Bump formation for flip chip and CSP by solder paste printing

Area array packages (flip chip, CSP and BGA) require the formation of bumps for the board assembly. Since the established bumping methods need expensive equipment or are limited by the throughput, minimal pitch and yield the industry is currently searching for new and lower cost bumping approaches. In this paper the experimental work of stencil printing to create solder bumps for flip chip and wafer level CSP (CSP-WL) is described in detail.This paper is divided into two parts. In the first part of the paper a low cost wafer bumping process for flip chip applications will be studied in particular. The process is based on an electroless Nickel under bump metallization and solder bumping by stencil printing. The experimental results for this technology will be presented and the limits concerning pitch, reproducibility and bump height will be discussed in detail. The second part of the paper is focused on solder paste printing for wafer-level CSPs. In order to achieve large bumps an optimized printing method will be presented. Additionally advanced stencil design will be shown and the achieved results will be compared with conventional methods.     

Board level reliability assessment of chip scale packages

A large program had been initiated to study the board level reliability of various types of chip scale package (CSP). The results on six different packages are reported here, which cover flex interposer CSP, rigid interposer CSP, wafer level assembly CSP, and lead frame CSP. The packages were assembled on FR4 PCBs of two different thicknesses. Temperature cycling tests from −40°C to +125°C with 15 min dwell time at the extremes were conducted to failure for all the package types. The failure criteria were established based on the pattern of electrical resistance change. The cycles to failure were analyzed using Weibull distribution function for each type of package. Selected packages were tested in the temperature/humidity chamber under 85°C/85%RH for 1000 h. Some assembled packages were tested in vibration condition as well. In all these tests, the electrical resistance of each package under testing was monitored continuously. Test samples were also cross-sectioned and analyzed under a Scanning Electronic Microscope (SEM). Different failure mechanisms were identified for various packages. It was noted that some packages failed at the solder joints while others failed inside the package, which was packaging design and process related.     

Board-level reliability of Pb-free solder joints of TSOP and various CSPs

To evaluate various Pb-free solder systems for leaded package, thin small outline packages (TSOPs) and chip scale packages (CSPs) including leadframe CSP (LFCSP), fine pitch BGA (FBGA), and wafer level CSP (WLCSP) were characterized in terms of board level and mechanical solder joint reliability. For board level solder joint reliability test of TSOPs, daisy chain samples having pure-Sn were prepared and placed on daisy chain printed circuit board (PCB) with Pb-free solder pastes. For CSPs, the same composition of Pb-free solder balls and solder pastes were used for assembly of daisy chain PCB. The samples were subjected to temperature cycle (T/C) tests (-65/spl deg/C/spl sim/150/spl deg/C, -55/spl deg/C/spl sim/125/spl deg/C, 2 cycles/h). Solder joint lifetime was electrically monitored by resistance measurement and the metallurgical characteristics of solder joint were analyzed by microstructural observation on a cross-section sample. In addition, mechanical tests including shock test, variable frequency vibration test, and four point twisting test were carried out with daisy chain packages too. In order to compare the effect of Pb-free solders with those of Sn-Pb solder, Sn-Pb solder balls and solder paste were included. According to this paper, most Pb-free solder systems were compatible with the conventional Sn-Pb solder with respect to board level and mechanical solder joint reliability. For application of Pb-free solder to WLCSP, Cu diffusion barrier layer is required to block the excessive Cu diffusion, which induced Cu trace failure.     

超薄型圆片级芯片尺寸封装技术

ShellCase公司的圆片级封装技术工艺,采用商用半导体圆片加工设备,把芯片进行封装并包封到分离的腔体中后仍为圆片形式。圆片级芯片尺寸封装(WL-CSP)工艺是在固态芯片尺寸玻璃外壳中装入芯片。玻璃包封防止了硅片的外露,并确保了良好的机械性能及环境保护功能。凸点下面专用的聚合物顺从层提供了板级可靠性。把凸点置于单个接触焊盘上,并进行回流焊,圆片分离形成封装器件成品。WL-CSP封装完全符合JEDEC和SMT标准。这样的芯片规模封装(CSP),其测量厚度为300μm-700μm,这是各种尺寸敏感型电子产品使用的关键因素。     

Application assessment of high throughput flip chip assembly for ahigh lead-eutectic solder cap interconnect system using no-flowunderfill materials

Flip chip on board (FCOB) is one of the most quickly growing segments in advanced electronic packaging. In many cases, assembly processes are not capable of providing the high throughputs needed for integrated surface mount technology (SMT) processing (Tummala et al, 1997). A new high throughput process using no-flow underfill materials has been developed that has the potential to significantly increase flip chip assembly throughput. Previous research has demonstrated the feasibility and reliability of the high throughput process required for FCOB assemblies. The goal of this research was to integrate the high throughput flip chip process on commercial flip chip packages that consisted of high lead solder balls on a polyimide passivated silicon die bonded with eutectic solder bumped pads on the laminate substrate interface (Qi, 1999). This involved extensive parametric experimentation that focused on the following elements: no-flow process evaluation and implementation on the commercial packages, reflow profile parameter effects on eutectic solder wetting of high lead solder bumps, interactions between the no-flow underfill materials and the package solder interconnect and tented via features, void capture and void formation during processing, and material set compatibility and the effects on long term reliability performance     

Ultra CSPTM-a wafer level package

There has been a significant amount of work over the past five years on chip scale packaging. The majority of this work has been an extension of conventional integrated circuit (IC) packaging technology utilizing either wire bonders or tape automated bonding (TAB)-type packaging technology. Handling discrete devices during the IC packaging for these type of chip scale packages (CSPs) has resulted in a relatively high cost for these packages. This paper reports a true wafer level packaging (WLP) technology called the Ultra CSP^TM. One advantage of this WLP concept is that it uses standard IC processing technology for the majority of the package manufacturing. This makes the Ultra CSP ideal for both insertion at the end of the wafer fab as well as the facilitation of wafer level test and burn-in options. This is especially true for dynamic random access memory (DRAM) wafers. Wafer level burn-in and wafer level processing can be used for DRAM and other devices as a way to both reduce cost and improve cycle time. Thermal cycling results for Ultra CSPs with a variety of package sizes and input/output (I/O) counts are presented. These test vehicles, assembled to FR-4 boards without underfill, cover a range of footprints typical of flash memory, DRAM and other devices. The electrical and thermal performance characteristics of the Ultra CSP package technology are discussed     

Solder joint reliability of a polymer reinforced wafer level package

Wafer level packages (WLPs) have demonstrated a very clear cost-advantage vs traditional wire-bond technologies, especially for small components that have a high number of dice and I/O per wafer. Ultra CSP^® is a WLP developed by the Kulicke & Soffa Flip Chip Division (formally Flip Chip Technologies). Typical products utilizing the Ultra chip scale package (CSP) have 5×5 or less area arrays at 0.5 mm pitch. This relatively small array has been limited by the inherent solder joint reliability of WLPs. A much larger subset of higher I/O IC’s could benefit from WLPs provided that standard reliability requirements are achieved without the use of underfill.A new polymer reinforcement technology, “Polymer Collar WLP™”, has been developed by K&S Flip Chip Division. Polymer Collar WLP utilizes a polymer reinforcement structure surrounding the solder joint and it has demonstrated more than 50% increase in solder joint life in thermal cycling tests. The most attractive feature of the Polymer Collar WLP process is its simplicity. A simple replacement of the standard solder flux with Polymer Collar material during the solder attach process is all that is required. This simplicity makes Polymer Collar the most cost-effective solution for adding a polymer reinforcement structure to the solder joint. Other methods in use today require additional complex and costly manufacturing steps.This Polymer Collar WLP is expected to widen the WLP market to include larger arrays where the Ultra CSP did not have suitable solder joint reliability.     

Low cost bumping by stencil printing: process qualification for 200 μm pitch

Area array packages (flip chip, CSP (Chip scale packages) and BGA) require the formation of bumps for the board assembly. Since the established bumping methods need expensive equipment and/or are limited by the throughput, minimal pitch and yield, the industry is currently searching for new and lower cost bumping approaches. The experimental work of stencil printing to create solder bumps for flip chip devices is described in detail in this article. In the first part of this article, a low cost wafer bumping process for flip chip applications will be studied in particular. The process is based on an electroless nickel under bump metallization and solder bumping by stencil printing. The experimental results for this technology will be presented, and the limits concerning pitch, stencil design, reproducibility and bump height will be discussed in detail. In the second part, a comparison of measured standard deviations of bump heights as well as the quality demands for ultrafine pitch flip chip assembly are shown.     

A minimal CSP

A chip scale package (CSP) using wafer scale processing was developed for a line of low cost, small form factor integrated circuits. The package uses polymeric repassivation and electrodeposited solder bumps connected by a unique conductor patterning method. The finished package resembles a common chip resistor. Reliability testing was used to optimize the bump design and the assembly methodologies. Field performance of more than 20 million packages has validated the test results     

Characterization of chip scale packaging materials

The mechanical stability of Chip Scale Packages (CSP) used in surface mount technology is of primary concern. The dominant issues are package warpage and solder fatigue in solder joints under cyclic loads. To address these issues, molding compound and die attach film were characterized with finite element method which employed a viscoelastic and viscoplastic constitutive model. The model was verified with experiments on package warpage, PCB warpage and solder joint reliability. After the correlation was observed, the effect of molding compound and die attach film on package warpage and solder joint reliability was investigated. It was found that package warpage tremendously affected solder joint reliability. Furthermore, a die attach film was developed based on results of the modeling. CSP with the developed die attach film are robust and capable of withstanding the thermal stresses, humidity and high temperatures encountered in typical package assembly and die attach processes. Also, a lead free solder is discussed based on the results of creep testing. This paper presents the viscoelastic and viscoplastic constitutive model and its verification, the optimum material properties, the experimental and simulated reliability and performance results of the u*BGA packages, and the lead free solder creep.     

Ultrathin wafer level chip size package

The ShellCase wafer-level packaging process uses commercial semiconductor wafer processing equipment. Dies are packaged and encapsulated into separate enclosures while still in wafer form. This wafer level chip size package (WLCSP) process encases the die in a solid die-size glass shell. The glass encapsulation prevents the silicon from being exposed and ensures excellent mechanical and environmental protection. A proprietary compliant polymer layer under the bumps provides on board reliability. Bumps are placed on the individual contact pads, are reflowed, and wafer singulation yields finished packaged devices. This WLCSP fully complies with Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC) and surface mount technology (SMT) standards. Such chip scale packages (CSP's) measure 300-700 μm in thickness, a crucial factor for use in various size sensitive electronic products     

超级CSP封装技术

超级CSP是利用晶圆级封装技术工艺在芯片上用高可靠密封剂安装插板装配的新密封工艺技术。它能够使封装结构成为真正的芯片尺寸型封装(KGED)。介绍了超级CSP具有良好的板级可靠性的原因:密封剂的C.T.E接近于母板的C.T.E、密封剂的高粘附强度、焊球和端子连接部分坚固的结构。     

Underfilling fine pitch BGAs

Fine pitch BGAs and chip scale packages have been developed as an alternative to direct flip chip attachment for high-density electronics. The larger solder sphere diameter and higher standoff of CSPs and fine pitch BGAs improve thermal cycle reliability while the larger pitch relaxes wiring congestion on the printed wiring board. Fine pitch BGAs and CSPs also allow rework to replace defective devices. Thermal cycle reliability has been shown to meet many consumer application requirements. However, fine pitch BGAs and CSPs have difficulty passing mechanical shock and substrate flexing tests for portable electronics applications. The fine pitch BGA used in the study was a 10 mm package with the die wire bonded. The package substrate was bismaleimide-triazine (BT) and the solder sphere diameter was 0.56 mm. Two types of underfill were examined. The first was a fast flow, snap cure underfill. This material rapidly flows under the package and can be cured in five minutes at 165°C using an in-line convection oven. The second underfill was a thermally reworkable underfill for those applications requiring device removal and replacement. The paper discusses the assembly and rework process. In addition, liquid-to-liquid thermal shock data is presented along with mechanical shock and flexing test results     

An overview of solder bump shape prediction algorithms withvalidations

The trend to reduce the size of electronic packages and develop increasingly sophisticated electronic devices with more, higher density inputs/outputs (I/Os), leads to the use of area array packages using chip scale packaging (CSP), flip chip (FC), and wafer level packaging (WLP) technologies. Greater attention has been paid to the reliability of solder joints and the assembly yield of the surface mounting process as use of advanced electronic packaging technologies has increased. The solder joint reliability has been observed to be highly dependent on solder joint geometry as well as solder material properties, such that predicting solder reflow shape became a critical issue for the electronic research community. In general, the truncated sphere method, the analytical solution and the energy-based algorithm are the three major methods for solder reflow geometry prediction. This research develops solder joint reliability design guidelines to accurately predict both the solder bump geometry and the standoff height for reflow soldered joints in area array packages. Three simulation methods such as truncated-sphere theory force-balanced analytical solution and energy-based approach for prediction of the solder bump geometry are each examined in detail, and the thermal enhanced BGA (TBGA) and flip chip packages are selected as the benchmark models to compare the simulation and experimental results. The simulation results indicate that all three methods can accurately predict the solder reflow shape in an accurate range     

WL-CSP reliability with various solder alloys and die thicknesses

WL-CSP is a low profile, true chip size package that is entirely built on a wafer using front-end and back-end processing. A new wafer level chip-scale package (WL-CSP) technology has been evaluated using a test vehicle, which has a 0.5 mm pitch of an 8 × 8 array of bumps on a 5 × 5 mm² die. The bump structure and package geometry have been optimized using simulation and validated by experimentation. The board used for reliability testing is a 1.2 mm thick, 2-layer FR-4 board with non-soldermask defined landpads with OSP (organic solderability preservative). The landpads are the same diameter as the 250 μm redistribution dielectric via size. Reliability data will be presented for three solder alloys and two wafer thicknesses. The first evaluation compares the reliability of solder alloys SnPbAg and two Pb-free alternatives: SnAgCu and SnCu. The second evaluation evaluates the potential reliability improvement of WL-CSPs by thinning the wafers. Standard thickness WL-CSP wafers are 27-mils. Wafers were thinned down to 4-mils thickness using two techniques. The first method is standard wafer backgrinding. The second is plasma etching, which results in a damage-free surface and improves wafer and die strength.     

Solder joint reliability and characteristics of deformation and crack growth of Sn-Ag-Cu versus eutectic Sn-Pb on a WLP in a thermal cycling test

Sn-Ag-Cu (SAC) is now recognized as the standard lead free solder alloy for packaging interconnect in the electronics industry. This paper analyzes the performance of both SAC and eutectic Sn-Pb solder alloys on Kulicke & Soffa's (K&S') Ultra CSP/spl reg/ wafer level package (WLP) at a thermal cycling (TC) test. The Ultra CSP standard Al/Ni-V/Cu under bump metallurgy (UBM) system was used to analyze if this UBM system with SAC solder would produce acceptable reliability in the TC test. In this study, two TC tests were performed. In the first test, two parts were removed from the TC chamber about every 200 cycles to investigate the characteristics of deformation and crack growth in the SAC and eutectic Sn-Pb Ultra CSP solder joints during TC testing. These TC test results showed that both the SAC and eutectic Sn-Pb Ultra CSPs exhibited normal solder joint fatigue failures during the testing. The SAC Ultra CSP had an equal or 18% higher Weibull life than the eutectic Sn-Pb one. Based on these results it was concluded that the SAC Ultra CSP with the Al/Ni-V/Cu UBM system produces acceptable solder joint reliability in a TC test. The results also revealed that the deformation and crack growth characteristics of the SAC and eutectic Sn-Pb Ultra CSP solder joints were significantly different. The eutectic Sn-Pb solder joints showed significant inelastic shear deformation during the TC testing while the SAC solder joints did not display significant inelastic deformation even at the high temperature regime of the TC test.     

Design and optimization of thermo-mechanical reliability in wafer level packaging

In this paper, a variety of wafer level packaging (WLP) structures, including both fan-in and fan-out WLPs, are investigated for solder joint thermo-mechanical reliability performance, from a structural design point of view. The effects of redistribution layer (RDL), bump structural design/material selection, polymer-cored ball application, and PCB design/material selection are studied. The investigation focuses on four different WLP technologies: standard WLP (ball on I/O WLP), ball on polymer WLP without under bump metallurgy (UBM) layer, ball on polymer WLP with UBM layer, and encapsulated copper post WLP. Ball on I/O WLP, in which solder balls are directly attached to the metal pads on silicon wafer, is used as a benchmark for the analysis. 3-D finite element modeling is performed to investigate the effects of WLP structures, UBM layer, polymer film material properties (in ball on polymer WLP), and encapsulated epoxy material properties (in copper post WLP). Both ball on polymer and copper post WLPs have shown great reliability improvement in thermal cycling. For ball on polymer WLP structures, polymer film between silicon and solder balls creates a ‘cushion’ effect to reduce the stresses in solder joints. Such cushion effect can be achieved either by an extremely compliant film or a ‘hard’ film with a large coefficient of thermal expansion. Encapsulated copper post WLP shows the best thermo-mechanical performance among the four WLP structures. Furthermore, for a fan-out WLP, it has been found that the critical solder balls are the outermost solder balls under die-area, where the maximum thermal mismatch takes place. In a fan-out WLP package, chip size, other than package size, determines the limit of solder joint reliability. This paper also discusses the polymer-cored solder ball applications to enhance thermo-mechanical reliability of solder joints. Finally, both experimental and finite element analysis have demonstrated that making corner balls non-electrically connected can greatly improve the WLP thermo-mechanical reliability.     

Chip scale package issues

Availability of board solder joint reliability information is critical to the wider implementation of chip scale packages (CSPs). The JPL-led CSP consortia of enterprises representing government agencies and private companies have joined together to pool in-kind resources for developing the quality and reliability of CSPs for variety of projects. In the process of building the consortia test vehicles, many challenges were identified regarding various aspects of technology implementation. This paper will present our experience in the areas of technology implementation challenges, including design and building both standard and microvia boards, and assembly of two types of CSP test vehicles.     

Evaluation and optimization of package processing and design through solder joint profile prediction

Solder joints are generated using a variety of methods to provide both mechanical and electrical connection for applications such as flip-chip, wafer level packaging, fine pitch, ball-grid array, and chip scale packages. Solder joint shape prediction has been incorporated as a key tool to aid in process development, wafer level and package level design and development, assembly, and reliability enhancement. This work demonstrates the application of an analytical model and the Surface Evolver software in analyzing a variety of solder processing methods and package types. Bump and joint shape prediction was conducted for the design of wafer level bumping, flip-chip assembly, and wafer level packaging. The results from the prediction methodologies are validated with experimentally measured geometries at each level of design.     

SuperCSPTM

SuperCSP is fabricated by building up the interposer with high reliability encapsulant on the chip by wafer level packaging technology. New encapsulation technology enables real chip-sized package from a package perspective. It is also a known good encapsulated die (KGED) from a die perspective. The reasons why board level reliability of SuperCSP is good regardless of extremely low bump-standoff height are as follows. (1) The C.T.E of encapsulant for SuperCSP is close to that of motherboard, so that the encapsulant layer effectively reduces stress occurring in the solder interconnecting portion. (2) Encapsulant with high adhesive strength reinforces and fixes the delicate connecting portion of chip and post, and also does not allow its deformation. (3) Connecting portion of solder ball and post has a strong structure and can tolerate the stress because solder balls catch hold of the whole surface of metal posts, which stick out from the encapsulant and have a mound like structure