Microelectronics packaging technology has evolved from through-hole, and bulk configuration to surface-mount, and small-profile ones. Today’s electronics industry is also transiting from SnPb to Pb-free to meet environmental requirements. Land grid array (LGA) package has been becoming popular in portable electronics in terms of low profile on the printed wiring boards and direct Pb-free assembly process compatibility. With the package profile shrinking and operating power increasing, solder joint quality and reliability has become a major concern in microelectronics manufacturing. The solder joint failure at the package level or board level will cause electronic devices not to function during service. In this paper, board-level solder joint reliability of the LGA packages under thermal loading is studied through thermal cycling tests. A novel laser ultrasound-interferometric system developed by the authors is applied to inspect solder joint quality during the thermal cycling tests. While the laser ultrasound inspection technique has been successfully applied to flip chips and chip scale packages, this study is the first application of this technique to overmolded packages. In this study, it is found out that the LGA packages can withstand 1000 temperature cycles without showing crack initiation or other failure mechanisms in the solder joints. The laser ultrasound inspection results match the visual observation and X-ray inspection results. This study demonstrates the feasibility of this system to solder joint quality inspection of overmolded packages. In particular, the devices constituting the objective of this study are radio frequency modules, which are encapsulated through overmolding and are mounted on a typical four-layer FR4 board through LGA terminations.
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e-mail: charles.ume@me.gatech.edu
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June 2010
Research Papers
Board-Level Solder Joint Reliability Study of Land Grid Array Packages for RF Application Using a Laser Ultrasound Inspection System
Jin Yang,
Jin Yang
Mem. ASME
George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering,
Georgia Institute of Technology
, Atlanta, GA 30332-0405
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Lizheng Zhang,
Lizheng Zhang
George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering,
Georgia Institute of Technology
, Atlanta, GA 30332-0405
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I. Charles Ume,
I. Charles Ume
Fellow ASME
George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering,
e-mail: charles.ume@me.gatech.edu
Georgia Institute of Technology
, Atlanta, GA 30332-0405
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George White
George White
Jacket Micro Devices, Inc.
, Atlanta, GA 30308
Search for other works by this author on:
Jin Yang
Mem. ASME
George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering,
Georgia Institute of Technology
, Atlanta, GA 30332-0405
Lizheng Zhang
George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering,
Georgia Institute of Technology
, Atlanta, GA 30332-0405
I. Charles Ume
Fellow ASME
George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering,
Georgia Institute of Technology
, Atlanta, GA 30332-0405e-mail: charles.ume@me.gatech.edu
Camil Ghiu
George White
Jacket Micro Devices, Inc.
, Atlanta, GA 30308J. Electron. Packag. Jun 2010, 132(2): 021006 (6 pages)
Published Online: June 23, 2010
Article history
Received:
June 1, 2009
Revised:
April 22, 2010
Online:
June 23, 2010
Published:
June 23, 2010
Citation
Yang, J., Zhang, L., Ume, I. C., Ghiu, C., and White, G. (June 23, 2010). "Board-Level Solder Joint Reliability Study of Land Grid Array Packages for RF Application Using a Laser Ultrasound Inspection System." ASME. J. Electron. Packag. June 2010; 132(2): 021006. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4001832
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