In surface mount technology, electronic components are soldered directly onto printed wiring boards without having to insert the component leads into the board. This arrangement results in higher functional density boards with improved performance. Surface mounted chip components have the problem that they tend to move during the reflow soldering process. To get an better understanding of the reflow process and the problem of chip movement during reflow, a thermal analysis of type 1206 chip resistors and capacitors was performed using the NASTRAN finite element program. The analysis provided temperature profiles in the models resulting from different kinds of heat inputs. Also, the sensitivity of the temperature profiles to several model parameters was studied. The study found that Infrared reflow soldering produces a temperature profile that is less likely to produce chip movement during reflow. The study also showed how the thermal behavior of electronic components during reflow can be predicted using finite element software