Nonlocal Damage Modeling of Solder Joint Failure Under Thermomechanical Cyclic Loading

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Abstract The increasing electrified mobility poses a challenge on reliability prediction of automotive electronics, especially when safety systems are concerned. The use of finite element simulation for accurate end-of-life prediction of automotive electronic devices under harsh environmental loading condition is getting increasingly significant. In particular, solder interconnection failure is in focus when subjected to thermomechanical loads. During cyclic loading, the initial deformation behavior and subsequent solder degradation can be modeled within finite element simulations using material damage coupled deformation models. Such models employ the calculation of an internal damage state variable at integration point level as functions of time, temperature and governing stress-strain state. In this work, a thermodynamic consistent implicit nonlocal damage formulation is presented. This modeling approach allows absolute end-of-life prediction of different solder joint geometries under thermomechanical cyclic loading within finite element simulations. The presented nonlocal damage model consists of damage evolution with strain and stress state dependencies, such as stress multiaxiality. Furthermore, a numerical de-localization algorithm is proposed, in order to avoid instability of damage evolution caused by finite element mesh dependency. Finally, the advantages and implications of the nonlocal damage approach are discussed based on simulations of damage evolution in multiple solder joints of a QFN48 package under combined cyclic thermal and mechanical 4-point bending loading.