On the life prediction and accelerated testing of solder joints

Summary form only given. A critical review of the life prediction and accelerated testing of solder joints, including the role of constitutive modeling and the factors of accelerated testing, is presented in this paper. As a perfect example, a Ford solder joint specimen was used to investigate accelerated testing factors under various accelerated testing conditions in terms of thermal fatigue life. Moreover, a typical PQFP (plastic quad flat pack) package was chosen to clarify the significance of fatigue life prediction in terms of different finite element models and unified and separated constitutive models. Thermal fatigue life prediction of flip chip packages with ball pitch sizes from 250 /spl mu/m to 50 /spl mu/m has been performed to illustrate underfill strengthening mechanisms and obtain an upper bound of accelerated testing factors, which can reduce testing time from three years to one week. Rate/temperature-dependent nonlinear properties of both eutectic solder and FP4526 underfill have been embedded in the ABAQUS finite element analysis for flip chip packages. All of these examples enlighten key points addressed in this report.

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