Solder joint shape and standoff height prediction and integration with FEA-based methodology for reliability evaluation

• Published in: 52nd Electronic Components and Technology Conference 2002. (Cat. No.02CH37345) pp. 1739 - 1744
• Main Authors: Sidharth, Blish, R., Natekar, D.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Piscataway NJ IEEE 2002
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Assembly; Design. Technologies. Operation analysis. Testing; Electronics; Exact sciences and technology; Failure analysis; Fatigue; Finite element methods; Integrated circuits; Semiconductor device packaging; Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; Shape; Soldering; Temperature; Testing, measurement, noise and reliability; Thermal expansion; Thermal loading; Finite element method; Integrated circuit bonding; Thermal expansion; Electronic packaging; Soldered joint; Thermal cycle; Numerical method; Reliability; Failures; Mismatching; Comparative study
• ISBN: 9780780374300; 0780374304
• ISSN: 0569-5503; 2377-5726
• DOI: 10.1109/ECTC.2002.1008345

Solder joint fatigue failure is a common failure mechanism in semiconductor packages mounted on boards. The thermal expansion mismatch between the package and the board causes cyclic loading on the solder joints during temperature cycling. It is therefore important to model the solder joint shape and standoff height accurately to estimate the reliability of a solder joint assembly. This paper discusses details of solder shape prediction using the Surface Evolver tool and its validation with experimental data. A comparison with truncated sphere model is also provided. A strategy for importing Surface Evolver data into a finite element based reliability evaluation is outlined.