Correlation of Warpage Distribution With the Material Property Scattering for Warpage Range Prediction of PBGA Components

Abstract

In recent years, due to the increased size of ball grid array (BGA) devices, the assembly of BGAs on printed circuit boards through surface mount technology has encountered unprecedented challenges from thermal warpage. The excessive warpage of BGAs in the reflow process may cause manufacture problems and even the risk of failure. Thus, it is essential to acquire warpage values and corresponding distribution ranges of BGAs before the surface mount technology process. In order to avoid assembly failure, theoretically, it is necessary to guarantee that all BGA devices meet the acceptance requirement of relevant standards. Generally, a large number of samples should be measured to obtain a relatively reliable warpage data distribution in the reflow temperature range, which makes this test quite costly and extremely time consuming. This study proposes another method to estimate the BGA warpage value and its possible corresponding range from the material property point of view. Because the mechanism of BGA warpage is related to the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) mismatch between the different materials, the warpage data scattering can be correlated with the scattering of material properties through finite element method (FEM) analysis. With a known mean value and range of material properties, the warpage value and corresponding distribution range can be solved. A sensitivity study is also presented in this paper. The accuracy of the proposed method is evaluated and the corresponding warpage data fluctuation range is estimated. From the comparison of the simulation and experiment results, determining the material properties could lead to a reasonable prediction of warpage in both the qualitative and quantitative sense. The proposed methodology for BGA warpage estimation can be used for academic research and industrial applications.