Key Engineering Materials Vols. 297-300

Abstract: The linear ultrasonic technique has been extensively used as a powerful, non-destructive test tool for reliability testing and failure analysis of electronic packaging. This is used most often in the inspection of defects such as delaminations, voids, or cracks through use of a SAM (Scanning Acoustic Microscope). Then, as the reliability level that is required of electronic packaging becomes higher and the thickness of package becomes thinner, the possible defect which needs to be detected becomes smaller. In the conventional SAM, however it is very difficult to detect small defects less than m µ 1 . 0 , such as micro-delaminations. In order to solve such a problem, this paper proposes a nonlinear ultrasonic method, where the nonlinearity caused by the effect of crack-face interactions is considered. The basic concept of this method involves harmonic frequencies that are generated in the transmitted ultrasonic wave due to the partial contact at the interface of micro-delamination. As an evaluation index, the nonlinear parameter dependent on the amplitude of the second order harmonic frequency component is obtained by spectral analysis of the transmitted signal. Experimental results show that the nonlinear parameter has good correlation with the micro-gap and the proposed method can detect the micro-delamination even less than nm 1 .

Abstract: Passivation crack is one of the main failures of micro-electronics. And the IC interconnect has a large varying range values comparing with its geometry size. In this paper, the influence of geometry values of micro-structures of IC packages on passivation cracking is studied by maximum principal stress theory using a certain 2D FEM model with different design geometry parameters, pitch of lines, width of line, thickness of epoxy, thickness of dielectric layer and the Aluminum yielding stress (following as “d”, “w”, “t_epo”, “t_Teos” and “sy_al” respectively). For different critical process step, here the final process temperature is acted as a representative parameter to analyze its impact. Furthermore, Response Surface Model (RSM) of principal stress is established using any two design parameters. Results show that width of line, thickness of dielectric layer and the Aluminium yielding stress will have great influence on passivation cracking while other parameters having little impact.

Abstract: The leading candidates for replacing lead-contained solders are near ternary eutectic Sn/Ag/Cu alloys. The electronic industry has begun to study both the process behavior and the reliability assessment of these alloys in detail to figure out their applicability to electronic devices and products. In recent publications, the solidification behavior and the fatigue life of the accelerated thermal cycle test have been reported in terms of microstructure variations such as the formation of large Ag3Sn plates and their effects. In this study, coupon type bulk specimens have been made for uniaxial tensile test by casting. To consider the effects of microstructure, casting cooling rates were controlled to 0.02-2.0 oC/sec. Eutectic Sn/Pb and near eutectic lead-free solder materials – Sn/Ag/Cu and Sn/Cu alloys – were used in mechanical testing. Also, nanoindentation tests were performed to measure Young’s modulus of materials having different microstructures. Tensile tests were performed at 3 different strain rates and then acquired 0.2% offset proof stress, ultimate tensile strength and elongation to failure.

Abstract: Fatigue behaviors of 63Sn37Pb and two types of lead-free solder joints were compared using pseudo-power cycling testing method, which provides more realistic load cycling to solder joints than chamber cycling method does. Pseudo-power cycling test was performed in various temperature ranges to evaluate the shear strain effect. A nonlinear finite element model was used to simulate the thermally induced visco-plastic deformation of solder joint in BGA packages. The results revealed that lead free solder joints have a good fatigue property in the low temperature condition, where a small strain was induced. In the high temperature condition where a large strain was induced, however, lead contained solder joints have a longer fatigue life.

Abstract: Solder is the most frequently used alloy, which serves as the bonding metal for electronics components. Recently, the interconnected bump is distinctly downsizing its bulk along with the integration of high-density packaging. The evaluation of electromigration damage for solder bumps is indispensable. Hence, it is fairly urgent to understand the mechanism of the electromigration damage to be capable of securing reliability of the solder bump and ultimately predicting its failure lifetime. Electromigration pattern in multi-phase material is determined by the combination of current density, temperature and current-applying time. In this paper, diagram of electromigration pattern (DEP) in solders is presented, where both of eutectic Pb-Sn and Pb-free solders are treated. DEP gives the basis for discussing and predicting the electromigration damage in solders.

Abstract: Delamination and crack were considered as significant failures in electronic packaging. For these circumstances, Modified Crack Closure Integral method was tested and applied to determine crack growth rate and for the purpose to understand failures. TQFP package was successfully verified by using the method. A PBGA package was modeled for thermal distribution and moisture concentration in order to calculate vapor pressure acted on crack. The energy release rate was the main concern among fracture parameters, which had been proven fully related with vapor pressure and crack length ratio in popcorn cracking.

Abstract: Ball shear test was investigated in terms of effects of important test parameters, i.e. shear height and shear speed, with an experimental and non-linear finite element analysis for evaluating the solder joint integrity of area array packages. A Pb-free solder composition was examined in this work: Sn-3Ag-6Bi-2In. The substrate was a common SMD (Solder Mask Defined) type with solder bond pad openings of 460㎛ in diameter. It could be observed that increasing shear height, at fixed shear speed, has the effect of decreasing shear force, while the shear force increased with increasing shear speed at fixed shear height. Too high shear height could cause some bad effects on the test results such as unexpected high standard deviation values or shear tip sliding from the solder ball surface. The low shear height conditions were favorable for screening the type of brittle interfacial failures or the degraded layers in the interfaces.

Abstract: In the present work, we investigated the interfacial reactions and shear properties between Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu flip chip solder bump and Cu UBM after multiple reflows. The quantitative analyses of the intermetallic compound layer thickness as a function of the number of reflows were performed. After six reflows, the reaction product could be distinguished by two intermetallic compounds: Cu3Sn adjacent to the substrate and Cu6Sn5 which was the dominant phase. The thickness of total intermetallic compound layers increased with the number of reflows. The shear strength value did not significantly change as a function of the number of reflows. Nearly all of the test specimens showed ductile failure mode, and this could be well explained with the results of FEM analyses.

Abstract: Metal leadframes (Alloy 42) were cleaned using atmospheric pressure glow discharge plasma. Atmospheric pressure glow plasma was generated by a RF source of 13.56MHz with a matching network (300W power) on to the leadframes free from streamers and arc. Argon (Ar) and oxygen (O2) were used as the carrier gas and reactive gas, respectively. The addition of O2 gas to Ar decreased the contact angle of water and increased the surface cleaning rate due to the ncrease of oxygen radicals in the plasma. The chemical characteristics and morphologies of leadframe surface after the plama treatment were analyzed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and atomic force microscope (AFM), respectively. The contact angle of 82° before the plasma treatment was decreased to 5° in the processing condition with oxygen flow rate of 50sccm, treatment speed of 100mm/sec, and input power of 300W. These surface cleaning effect will be very useful in the replacement many steps of wet cleaning before electroplating.