Influence Of Solder Joint Shape On The Thermo-Mechanical Reliability Of CSP's

Abstract

Not only the stand-off height but also the shape of a solder joint has a strong influence on the joint reliability under temperature cycling. The shape determines the size of the local stress and strain concentrations. It is therefore very important to know well the joint shape after reflow. In a previous paper closed analytical expressions were derived for liquid bump shapes, as a function of pad size and bump height [1]. The bump deformation as a function of the chip weight could be derived from the force constant. In the present paper closed analytical expressions are derived for the force constant for liquid bumps having unequal spherical pad sizes. It turns out that the force constant for compression can be optimized as a function of the ratio of those pad sizes. The shape of the bump and especially the contact angle is of interest for modeling activities where geometrical effects do play a role. Furthermore from the variation in bumps heights on a chip an estimate can be made of the tilt of the chip after assembly. The solder profile estimation by the analytical expressions is validated by experimental results. Also a comparison with the solder profile estimation by the simulation software Surface Evolver is done. Both comparisons showed that the analytical estimation of the standoff height is very good as long as the gravitation energy contributed by the chip weight is less than 10% of the total energy. Finally, an example is shown where the analytical model and Surface Evolver are the geometrical input for a finite element model. The example considers a CSP assembled at both sides of the printed circuit board.