A dislocation model of shear fatigue damage and life prediction of SMT solder joints under thermal cycles

In this paper, a damage model of low-cycle shear fatigue has been developed in the dislocation theory. On the basis of this model, a formula including the factors of thermal cycle temperature, dwell time and atmospheric oxidation has been established to predict the life of SMT solder joints under thermal cycles, and this has been verified by experiments on the specimens of true SMT assemblies. The results show that the life formula established in this paper coincides with the experimental results.     

热循环参数及基板尺寸对焊点可靠性的影响

采用Ansys软件建立BGA倒装芯片模型考察焊点的热应力。通过改变热循环保温时间、温度范围和最高温度,研究各参数对焊点热疲劳寿命的影响,同时也考察了基板的长度和厚度的影响。采用Coffin-Manson方程计算并比较热循环寿命。结果表明:随着热循环高低温停留时间、温度范围以及最高热循环温度的增大,热循环寿命减小,最小寿命为879周;同时热循环寿命也随着基板长度和厚度的增大而减小。     

Effect of dwell times on thermomechanical fatigue behavior of Sn-Ag-based solder joints

Thermomechanical fatigue (TMF) caused by the mismatch in the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) between solder and substrate gradually degrades the mechanical properties of solder joints during service. Solder joints fabricated with eutectic Sn-Ag and Sn-Ag solder with Cu or Ni were subjected to TMF between −15°C and +150°C with dwell times of 115 min at high-temperature extreme and 20 min at low-temperature extreme. Characterization of surface damage and residual-mechanical strength of these solder joints were carried out after 0, 250, 500, and 1,000 TMF cycles. Results obtained from this study were compared with those obtained with longer dwell time at lower temperature extreme. The solder joints that experienced longer dwell times at high-temperature extreme exhibited less surface-damage accumulation and less decrease in simple-shear strength as compared to those that experienced longer dwell times at low-temperature extreme. Quaternary alloys containing small amounts of Cu and Ni exhibit better TMF performance than binary and ternary alloys under TMF cycling with longer dwell times at high-temperature extreme.     

LGA焊点形态对焊点寿命影响的有限元分析

通过Surface Evolver软件对LGA焊点进行了三维形态预测,利用有限元数值模拟对LGA焊点在热循环条件下寿命进行了分析。研究了热循环条件下LGA焊点的应力应变分布规律,随着焊点远离元件的中心位置焊点所受到的等效应力、等效应变和塑性应变能密度逐渐增大,从而得出处于外面拐角的焊点最先发生失效的结论。基于塑性应变范围和Coffin-Manson公式计算了焊点热疲劳寿命;找出了LGA焊点形态对焊点寿命的影响规律,模板厚度一定时PCB焊盘尺寸小于上焊盘时LGA焊点的热疲劳寿命与PCB焊盘尺寸成正比,大于上焊盘时成反比,大约相等时焊点寿命最大。当PCB焊盘和模板开孔尺寸固定时,通过增大模板厚度来增加焊料体积在一定程度上可提高LGA焊点的热疲劳寿命,但是模板厚度增大到一定值时LGA焊点寿命会逐渐降低。     

Thermal cycling analysis of flip-chip solder joint reliability

The reliability concern in flip-chip-on-board (FCOB) technology is the high thermal mismatch deformation between the silicon die and the printed circuit board that results in large solder joint stresses and strains causing fatigue failure. Accelerated thermal cycling (ATC) test is one of the reliability tests performed to evaluate the fatigue strength of the solder interconnects. Finite element analysis (FEA) was employed to simulate thermal cycling loading for solder joint reliability in electronic assemblies. This study investigates different methods of implementing thermal cycling analysis, namely using the "dwell creep" and "full creep" methods based on a phenomenological approach to modeling time independent plastic and time dependent creep deformations. There are significant differences between the "dwell creep" and "full creep" analysis results for the flip chip solder joint strain responses and the predicted fatigue life. Comparison was made with a rate dependent viscoplastic analysis approach. Investigations on thermal cycling analysis of the temperature range, (ΔT) effects on the predicted fatigue lives of solder joints are reported     

Board level solder joint reliability analysis of stacked die mixed flip-chip and wirebond BGA

Stacked die BGA has recently gained popularity in telecommunication applications. However, its board level solder joint reliability during the thermal cycling test is not as well-studied as common single die BGA. In this paper, solder joint fatigue of lead-free stacked die BGA with mixed flip-chip (FC) and wirebond (WB) interconnect is analyzed in detail. 3D fatigue model is established for stacked die BGA with considerations of detailed pad design, realistic shape of solder ball, and non-linear material properties. The fatigue model applied is based on a modified Darveaux’s approach with non-linear viscoplastic analysis of solder joints. Based on the FC–WB stack die configuration, the critical solder ball is observed located between the top and bottom dice corner, and failure interface is along the top solder/pad interface. The modeling predicted fatigue life is first correlated to the thermal cycling test results using modified correlation constants, curve-fitted from in-house lead-free TFBGA46 (thin-profile fine-pitch BGA) thermal cycling test data. Subsequently, design analyzes are performed to study the effects of 20 key design variations in package dimensions, material properties, and thermal cycling test conditions. In general, thinner PCB and mold compound, thicker substrate, larger top or bottom dice sizes, thicker top die, higher solder ball standoff, larger solder mask opening, smaller PCB pad size, smaller thermal cycling temperature range, longer ramp time, and shorter dwell time contribute to longer fatigue life. SnAgCu is a common lead-free solder, and it has much better board level reliability performance than eutectic solder based on modeling results, especially low stress packages.     

A new experimental method to evaluate creep fatigue life of flip-chip solder joints with underfill

A new accelerated stress test method was developed to evaluate creep life of flip-chip solder joints with underfill. With this method, a cyclic creep test can be done simply by applying a displacement to the FR-4 printed circuit board (PCB) board in the axial direction. The creep fatigue test was performed under displacement control with real-time electrical continuity monitoring. Test results show that the displacement arising from the force is equivalent to the thermal stress during thermal expansion. It was found that the magnitude of displacement was proportional to the inelastic strain sustained by the solder joints. This indicates that the creep fatigue life obtained will not only reflect the quality of the solder joints, but can also be used to characterize the reliability of the flip-chip assembly. Finite element modeling was also performed to confirm the agreement of deformation of the solder joints under mechanical and thermal loading. Results suggest that deformation and strain of the flip-chip assembly are consistent or comparable between the mechanical and thermal cycling. The failure analysis indicates that fatigue cracks often initiate from the top edge of a corner solder joint in the creep fatigue test, which is similar to what would happen in thermal cycling test. Lastly, the effect of underfill on the creep fatigue test is discussed. It is postulated that the test method is applicable to other flip-chip assemblies, such as conductive adhesive interconnections.     

CSP封装Sn-3.5Ag焊点的热疲劳寿命预测

对芯片尺寸封装(CSP)中Sn-3.5Ag无铅焊点在热循环加速载荷下的热疲劳寿命进行了预测.首先利用ANSYS软件建立CSP封装的三维有限元对称模型,运用Anand本构模型描述Sn-3.5Ag无铅焊点的粘塑性材料特性;通过有限元模拟的方法分析了封装结构在热循环载荷下的变形及焊点的应力应变行为,并结合Darveaux疲劳寿命模型预测了无铅焊点的热疲劳寿命.     

热循环条件下无铅焊点可靠性的有限元分析

通过有限元数值模拟对Sn3.5Ag0.75Cu无铅焊料焊点的可靠性问题进行了分析。采用统一粘塑性Anand本构方程对焊料焊点结构进行有限元分析,研究焊点在热循环加载过程中的应力应变等力学行为。研究结果表明,在焊点内部焊点与基板结合处的应力较大,而焊点中央的应力较小;焊点在低温阶段的应力最大,在高温阶段应变最大;在升降温阶段的应力应变变化较大,而在保温阶段的应力应变变化较小。     

Effect of substrate flexibility on solder joint reliability. Part II: finite element modeling

Solder joint fatigue failure is a serious reliability concern in area array technologies, such as flip chip and ball grid array packages of integrated-circuit chips. The selection of different substrate materials could affect solder joint thermal fatigue life significantly. The mechanism of substrate flexibility on improving solder joint thermal fatigue was investigated by thermal mechanical analysis (TMA) technique and finite element modeling. The reliability of solder joints in real flip chip assembly with both rigid and compliant substrates was evaluated by accelerated temperature cycling test. Finite element simulations were conducted to study the reliability of solder joints in flip chip on flex assembly (FCOF) and flip chip on rigid board assembly (FCOB) applying Anand model. Based on the finite element analysis results, the fatigue lives of solder joints were obtained by Darveaux’s crack initiation and growth model. The thermal strain/stress in solder joints of flip chip assemblies with different substrates were compared. The results of finite element analysis showed a good agreement with the experimental results. It was found that the thermal fatigue lifetime of FCOF solder joints was much longer than that of FCOB solder joints. The thermal strain/stress in solder joints could be reduced by flex buckling or bending and flex substrates could dissipate energy that otherwise would be absorbed by solder joints. It was concluded that substrate flexibility has a great effect on solder joint reliability and the reliability improvement was attributed to flex buckling or bending during temperature cycling.     

Thermal cycling aging effects on microstructural and mechanicalproperties of a single PBGA solder joint specimen

This paper reports on an experimental study on how thermal cycling aging exposure changes the solder joint microstructure, intermetallic layer thickness and the residual shear strength and fatigue life in a single plastic ball grid array (PBGA) solder joint specimen. The single BGA solder joint specimen was specially designed to evaluate the microstructure and mechanical properties of three different batches of solder joint after subjected to 0, 500, 1000, and 2000 cycles of thermal cycling aging (-40°C to 125°C). It is important to relate the effects of thermal cycling aging on the changes of the microstructural and intermetallic layer thickness to the residual shear strength and fatigue life of solder joints subjected to thermal cycling aging exposure. The results of this study shows that the microstructural and intermetallic development due to thermal cycling aging has a major impact on the residual mechanical and fatigue strength of the solder joint. It was noted that the solder joint shear strength and residual fatigue life degrades with exposure to thermal cycling aging     

Coupling effects of mechanical vibrations and thermal cycling on reliability of CCGA solder joints

The microstructures and crack propagation behavior of CCGA (ceramic column grid array) solder joints after sinusoidal vibration loading, random vibration loading, and thermal cycling test have been discussed in this study. The failure mechanism of solder joints was analyzed using an experimental method and finite element analysis. It was found that the failed solder joints mainly distributed at the peripheral area in the solder column arrays and the crack initiation was mainly caused by mechanical vibrations. The deformation of PCB (printed circuit board) introduced by mechanical vibrations brought the outermost solder columns in CCGA devices with significant stress concentration and induced the initiation of cracks. Furthermore, cracks propagated during the process of mechanical vibrations and thermal cycling. The cracks propagated rapidly and the solder joints finally failed. The structure of the PCB holder was improved to relieve the vibration response from the peripheral joints. No visible crack was found in the solder joints after the same mechanical vibrations and thermal cycling test. The reliability of solder joints have been greatly improved with the new PCB holder.     

动态拉伸载荷下SMT焊点可靠性研究

对Sn37Pb和Sn3.0Ag0.5Cu(SAC305)钎料贴装的SMT组件进行了动态拉伸载荷下的机械疲劳试验研究,结果表明,Sn37Pb焊点的疲劳寿命要高于SnAgCu305.在峰值应力为40MPa时寿命差距达到最大,前者是后者2倍～3倍.同时,还分别得出了两种焊点在50%和10%破坏率下的S-N寿命曲线.通过对两种焊点试样横截面的显微观察,发现两种焊点均主要沿着三处位置开裂,然后随着疲劳周次的增加直至裂纹贯穿整个焊点.     

Board level solder joint reliability analysis and optimization of pyramidal stacked die BGA packages

Due to requirements of cost-saving and miniaturization, stacked die BGA has recently gained popularity in many applications. However, its board level solder joint reliability during the thermal cycling test is not as well-studied as common single die BGA. In this paper, solder joint fatigue of wirebond stacked die BGA is analyzed in detail. 3D fatigue model is established for stacked die BGA with considerations of detailed pad design, realistic shape of solder ball, and non-linear material properties. The fatigue model applied is based on a modified Darveaux's approach with non-linear viscoplastic analysis of solder joints. The critical solder ball is observed located between the top and bottom dice corner, and failure interface is along the top solder/pad interface. The modeling predicted fatigue life is first correlated to the thermal cycling test results using modified correlation constants, curve-fitted from in-house TFBGA (thin-profile fine-pitch BGA) thermal cycling test data. Subsequently, design analyses are performed to study the effects of 16 key design variations in package dimensions, material properties, and thermal cycling test conditions. In general, smaller top and bottom dice sizes, thicker top or bottom die, thinner PCB, thicker substrate, higher solder ball standoff, larger solder mask opening size, smaller maximum ball diameter, smaller PCB pad size, smaller thermal cycling temperature range, longer ramp time, and shorter dwell time contribute to longer fatigue life. The effect of number of layers of stacked-die is also investigated. Finally, design optimization is performed based on selected critical design variables.     

倒装焊SnPb焊点热循环失效和底充胶的影响

采用实验方法,确定了倒装焊SnPb焊点的热循环寿命．采用粘塑性和粘弹性材料模式描述了SnPb焊料和底充胶的力学行为,用有限元方法模拟了SnPb焊点在热循环条件下的应力应变过程．基于计算的塑性应变范围和实验的热循环寿命,确定了倒装焊SnPb焊点热循环失效Coffin-Manson经验方程的材料参数．研究表明,有底充胶倒装焊SnPb焊点的塑性应变范围比无底充胶时明显减小,热循环寿命可提高约20倍,充胶后的焊点高度对可靠性的影响变得不明显．     

Solder joint crack propagation analysis of wafer-level chip scalepackage on printed circuit board assemblies

The solder-joint reliability of a low-cost wafer-level chip scale package (WLCSP) on printed circuit board (PCB) under thermal fatigue is studied. The solder joints are subjected to thermal cycling and their crack lengths at different thermal cycles are measured. Also, the stress intensity factors at the crack tip of different crack lengths in the corner solder joint are determined by fracture mechanics with finite element method. Furthermore, an empirical equation for predicting the thermal-fatigue life of flip chip solder joints is proposed     

热循环加载条件下SMT焊点应力应变过程的有限元分析

ＳＭＴ焊 热循环条件下的应力应变过程分析是ＳＭＴ焊点可靠性的重要方向。本文采用粘弹塑性材料模式描述ＳｎＰｂ钎料的力学本构响应，对非城堡型ＬＣＣＣ焊蹼结构进行三维有限元分析，考察焊点在热循环加载过程中的应力应变等力学行为。研究结果表明，焊点钎料内的高应力发生在热循环的低温阶段，升降温过程中的蠕变和非弹性应变的累积显著，蠕变应变在非弹性应变中占主导地位，应力应变滞后环在热循环的最初几个周期内就能很快稳     

Characterization of the Effect of Shape Memory Alloy on Solder Joint Strength Through Modeling and Testing

Currently some of the most common problems that surface mount technology encounters are warpage, delamination, and inelastic strain concentration accumulated in the solder joint during thermal cycling because of mismatch of thermal expansion coefficient between the package and chip side. Material as well as package structure are the critical issues with respect to these problems. The objective of this research is to investigate how shape memory alloy (SMA) applied in the under bump metallization (UBM) can affect solder joint reliability under thermal mechanical stress. Joint strength tests revealed the better strength of solder joints with SMA UBM after accelerated thermal cycling test. Finite element modeling as well as multilayer stress calculations revealed less strain accumulated in the solder and more stress concentrated in Si in the solder joint with SMA UBM. A mechanism by which the SMA accommodates most of the stress and strain caused by the mismatch of the thermal expansion coefficients was proposed to explain the reinforcement of the solder joint by the SMA UBM.     

倒装焊SnPb焊点热循环失效和底充胶的影响

采用实验方法 ,确定了倒装焊 Sn Pb焊点的热循环寿命 .采用粘塑性和粘弹性材料模式描述了 Sn Pb焊料和底充胶的力学行为 ,用有限元方法模拟了 Sn Pb焊点在热循环条件下的应力应变过程 .基于计算的塑性应变范围和实验的热循环寿命 ,确定了倒装焊 Sn Pb焊点热循环失效 Coffin- Manson经验方程的材料参数 .研究表明 ,有底充胶倒装焊 Sn Pb焊点的塑性应变范围比无底充胶时明显减小 ,热循环寿命可提高约 2 0倍 ,充胶后的焊点高度对可靠性的影响变得不明显     

Improved reliability of copper-cored solder joints under a harsh thermal cycling condition

This study simulated the performance of Cu-cored solder joints in microelectronic components subjected to the extreme thermal cycling conditions often encountered in the automobile industry by comparing the thermal cycling behavior of Cu-cored solder joints containing two different coating layers of Sn–3.0Ag and Sn–1.0In with that of a baseline Sn–3.0Ag–0.5Cu solder joint under a severe temperature cycling range of ?55 to +150 °C. Both Cu-cored solder joints can be considered a potential solution to interconnects in microelectronic semiconductor packages used under harsh thermal conditions on account of their greater resistance to thermal stress caused by the severe temperature cycling than the baseline Sn–3.0Ag–0.5Cu solder joint.