Universal Application of Load Board (L/B) and Socket with Direct Current Tester (DCT) for Various Packages

We develop a new workflow with O/S tester (Direct Current Tester, DCT) to detect quickly the defect location of failure packages, which can be used in the semiconductor industry for E-FA (Electrical Failure Analysis) fault localization for short, leakage, and open defects. This paper introduces the capability and presents two case studies identifying the defect location of solder balls where DCT with defect mapping function is useful as a non-destructive analysis technique. In this paper, the new methodology and application of DCT on open and short defects in various packages with different sizes have been presented. The experimental results of the design testing program and an intender tooling were verified for the accuracy of the defect mapping function in determining the pin location to defect.

Evolution of Mechanical Properties and Microstructure in SAC Bulk Solder and Solder Joints During Thermal Cycling Exposures

Electronic packages are frequently exposed to thermal cycling during their service life between low to high temperature extreme. Similar phenomena can be observed in solder joints during the characterization of thermal-mechanical fatigue behavior. This variation in temperature causes the evolution of mechanical and microstructural behavior of solder joints. Also, dwelling at high temperature extreme causes the mechanical properties reduction of solder joints due to thermal aging phenomena which eventually leads to the change in microstructure. In literature, the effect of thermal aging on the mechanical behavior evolution has been reported by several research groups, but the evolution of mechanical and microstructural properties under different thermal cycling exposure is limited. In our prior study, reduction of mechanical properties of SAC305 lead-free solder material under different thermal cycling exposures have been reported for up to 5 days of thermal cycling. It was found that thermal cycling with long ramp period and dwell time has severe effect on mechanical properties reduction. In our present study, previous study has been extended up to 100 days along with the mechanical behavior evolution of solder joints under stress free condition at different thermal cyclic loading. Particularly, the evolutions of mechanical behavior in both bulk SAC305 miniature solder bar samples and small SAC305 solder balls under stress free condition have been investigated for several thermal cycling profiles, and then the results were compared. Reflow solidification technique with a controlled temperature profile has been used to prepare bulk solder specimens for uniaxial tensile testing. Optical microscopy has been used to figure out the single grain BGA solder balls after grounding and polishing to avoid grain orientation effect during nanoindentation technique. Then, both bulk solder bars and solder balls were thermally cycled between −40 C to +125 °C under a stress-free condition (no load) in a thermal chamber. Several thermal loading were adopted such as (1) 150 minutes cycles with 45 minutes ramps and 30 minutes dwells, (2) air-to-air thermal shock exposures with 30 minutes dwells and near instantaneous ramps, (3) 90 minute cycles with 45 minutes ramps and 0 minutes dwells (thermal ramp only), and (4) Isothermal aging at high temperature extreme (no cycle). After each thermal cycling exposure, mechanical properties evolution of both solder bars and solder balls were recorded in terms of effective elastic modulus (E), hardness (H), yield strength (YS), and ultimate tensile strength (UTS). For the BGA solder balls, the evolution of mechanical properties was measured using nanoindentation. Moreover, mechanical properties evolution of both specimens was compared in terms of normalized properties with respect to elapsed time under different thermal cycling exposures. Finally, the microstructural evolution of bulk solder bars was observed under slow thermal cycling exposures with elapsed time.

Intelligent Detection Methods of Electrical Connection Faults in RF Circuits

Printed circuit boards (PCBs) have a large number of electrical connection nodes. Exposure to harsh environments may lead to connection faults in these nodes. In the present work, intelligent detection methods for electrical connection faults were studied. Specifically, the fault characteristics of connectors, bonding wires and solder balls in the frequency domain were analyzed. The reflection and transmission parameters of an example filter circuit with electrical connection faults were calculated using the Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis (SPICE). With these obtained electrical parameters, three machine learning algorithms were used to detect example electrical connection faults for the example circuit. Based upon the performance evaluations of the three algorithms, one can conclude that machine-learning-based intelligent fault detection is a promising technique in diagnosing circuit faults due to electrical connection issues with high accuracy and lower time cost as compared to current manual processes.

Wetting characteristics of Sn-5Sb-CuNiAg lead-free solders on the copper substrate

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the wetting behaviors of Sn-5Sb-CuNiAg solders on copper substrates in different soldering processes and the effects of alloying elements on the wettability. Design/methodology/approach Sn-5Sb-CuNiAg solder balls (750 µm in diameter) were spread and wetted on 40 × 40 × 1 mm copper plates, in different fluxes, soldering temperatures and time. The contact angles were obtained by a home-made measuring instrument. The samples were polished and deep etched before analyzed by scanning electron microscopy. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy was used to identify the composition of the joints. Findings The effects of different soldering processes and alloying elements on the wetting behaviors of Sn-5Sb-CuNiAg solders on copper substrates were calculated and expounded. The rosin-based flux could effectively remove oxidation layers and improve the wettability of Sn-5Sb-CuNiAg solders. Then with the increase of soldering temperature and time, the contact angles decreased gradually. The soldering processes suited for Sn-5Sb-CuNiAg solders were RMA218, 280°C and 30 s. Considered the effects of alloying elements, the wettability of Sn-5Sb-0.5Cu-0.1Ni-0.5Ag was relatively favorable on copper substrates. Besides, Ni could accumulate at the solder/Cu interface and form a jagged (Cu,Ni)6Sn5 IMC. Originality/value This work was carried out with our handmade experiment equipment and the production of the quinary lead-free solder alloy used in wetting tests belongs to us. The investigated Sn-5Sb-CuNiAg alloys exhibited higher melting point and preferable wettability, that was one of the candidates for high-temperature lead-free solders to replace high-Pb solders, and applied extremely to high temperature and frequency working environments of the third-generation semiconductors components, with a greater potential research and development value.

DDR4 BER Degradation Due to Crack in FBGA Package Solder Ball

This paper measures bit error rate degradation in DDR4 due to crack in fine pitch ball grid array (FBGA) package solder ball. Thermal coefficient mismatch between the package and printed circuit board material causes cracks to occur in solder balls. These cracks change the electrical model of the solder ball and introduce parallel capacitance in the electrical model. The capacitance causes higher frequency attenuation and closes the data eye. As the data rate of the DDR4 increases there are more data eye closures. The data eye closure causes bit error rate (BER) degradation as the timing margin and voltage margin decreases. This degradation reduces the reliability of the system and causes more intermittent errors. DDR4 data line is loaded with a parallel capacitive element to mimic a crack in solder ball. The measured data eye shows a decrease in eye width. Bathtub plots are created for comparison of cracked solder ball and intact solder ball. The bathtub plots show the BER degradation due to crack in solder ball.