Reliability assessment of ball grid array joints under combined application of thermal and power cycling: solder geometry effect

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to investigate simultaneous power and thermal loading. Design/methodology/approach Finite element method simulations coupled with experiments. Findings The effects of power cycling have been determined. Originality/value This paper aims to testify the combined effects of thermal and power cycling loads on the reliability of solder ball joints with barrel- and hourglass-type geometries in an electronic system. The finite element simulation outcomes showed that the maximum strain energy was accumulated at the edges of barrel-type solder, whereas the hourglass-type was vulnerable at the necking side. It was also found that the hourglass-type solder showed a reliable behavior when the sole thermal cycling was exerted to the electronic system, whereas the barrel-type solder was a better choice under simultaneous application of thermal and power loadings. The experimental results also confirmed the finite element simulation and indicated that the solder joint reliability strongly depends on the geometry of interconnection in different operating conditions. An extensive discussion was presented to shed light on the paramount importance of combined thermal/power cycling on the reliability of solder joints.

Reliability modeling and assessment of solder joints of electronic assemblies under mixed exposure to mechanical loads

“…The mechanical loading is of diverse types especially in portable devices including vibration and drop loads (Gharaibeh et al, 2019;Singh, 2017). The mechanical loading is inherently a random stress whose characteristics may not be specified during its exposure (Song et al, 2014;Kumar et al, 2020). Structurally, solder joints of electronic devices are at high risk of damage owing to their locations which joining different parts with different mechanical and material properties Liu and Meng, 2014).…”