Flip Chip Solder Joints Research Articles

Orientation transformation of Pb grains in 5Sn–95Pb/ 63Sn–37Pb composite flip-chip solder joints during electromigration test

Microstructural evolution occurred in 5Sn–95Pb/63Sn–37Pb composite flip-chip solder bump during electromigration. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) observations for 5Sn–95Pb/63Sn–37Pb composite flip-chip solder joints subjected to 5 kA/cm2 current stressing at 150 °C revealed a gradual orientation transformation of Pb grains from random textures toward (101) grains. We proposed that the combination of reducing the surface energy of Pb grain boundaries and resistance of the entire polycrystalline system are the driving force for the orientation transformation of Pb grains during an electromigration test.

Electromigration induced high fraction of compound formation in SnAgCu flip chip solder joints with copper column

To overcome the effect of current crowding on electromigration-induced pancake-type void formation in flip chip solder joints, two types of Cu column in 90μm flip chip SnAgCu solder joints have been studied. They were (1) the solder contacts the Cu column at bottom and side walls and (2) the solder wets only the bottom surface of the copper column. With a current density of 1.6×104A∕cm2 at 135°C, no failure was detected after 1290h. However, the resistance increased by about 10% due to the formation of a large fraction of intermetallic compounds. We found that electromigration has accelerated the consumption rate of copper column and converted almost the entire solder joint into intermetallic compound. Mechanically, drop impact test indicates a brittle fracture failure in the intermetallic. The electromigration critical product for the intermetallic is discussed.

Electromigration behavior of lead-free solder flip chip bumps on NiP/Cu metallization

The electromigration behavior of Sn–2.5Ag and Sn–0.7Cu (in wt %) flip chip solder joints on electroless NiP/Cu metallization at a current density of 1.3×104 A/cm2 was studied. For Sn-2.5 Ag solder, electromigration at 115 °C for 250 h showed a selective dissolution of Ni from the electroless NiP layer forming crystallized Ni3P. At 140 °C, the damage to the NiP layer was accelerated and instability of the NiP/Cu interface was observed. For eutectic Sn–0.7Cu solder, the electromigration behavior at a higher temperature was evaluated. At 180 °C, the NiP/Cu under bump metallurgy (UBM) started to show damage after 50 h. At 200 °C, the entire NiP/Cu layer was damaged, and P in the NiP layer moved to the edge of the anode much faster than the other species forming CuP2 intermetallics. NiP/Cu UBM experiences selective dissolution of Ni at lower temperatures, and the damage of the entire UBM occurred abruptly at the higher temperature.

Failure Mechanism of Electromigration in Solder Joint

In advanced electronic products, electromigration-induced failure is one of the most serious problems in fine pitch flip chip solder joints because the design rule in devices requires high current density through small solder joints for high performance and miniaturization. The failure mode induced by electromigration in the flip chip solder joint is unique, owing to the loss of under bump metallurgy (UBM) and the interfacial void formation at the cathode contact interface. In this study, Electromigration of flip chip solder joints has been investigated under a constant density of 2.45×104 A/cm2 at 120 °C. The in-situ marker displacements during the electromigration test was measured and found to show a rough linear change as a function of time. Scanning electron microscopic images of the cross section of samples showed the existence of voids at the interface between Al interconnection and under bump metallurgy. The void movement was matched with the marker displacements during the electromigration test, and voids moved to the cathode interface between Al interconnection and under bump metallurgy in the downward electron flow (from chip to substrate) joint. The mechanism of electromigration-induced void migration and failure in the flip chip are discussed. During electromigration, a flux of atoms is driven from the cathode to the anode or a flux of vacancies in the opposite direction. It can lead to two possible mechanisms of void migration. First, if we regard the void as a rigid marker of diffusion, it will be displaced towards the cathode by the atomic flux in the electromigration, Second, if we consider surface diffusion on the void surface, electromigration will drive atoms on the top surface of the void to the bottom surface of the void, and consequently the void will move towards the cathode.

The effect of pre-aging on the electromigration of flip-chip SnAg solder joints

The effect of pre-aging on electromigration is investigated in this study using flip-chip SnAg solder joints. The solder joints were pre-aged at 170°C for 1 h, 3 h, 5 h, 10 h, 25 h, and 50 h, and then they were subjected to electromigration tests of 0.9 A at 150°C. It was found that the average failure time increased about three times when the joints were pre-aged for 3 h to 25 h. But it decreased when the joints were overaged. It is proposed that the major contributor to the prolonged failure time may be the densification of the nickel and copper under-bump metallization (UBM) and the solder due to the aging treatment. The pre-aging treatment at 170°C may stabilize the microstructure of the solder. The vacancies in the solder were annihilated during the heat treatment, causing a slower diffusion rate. In addition, the UBM structure became denser after the pre-aging process. Thus, the denser UBM structure may lead to slower consumption rates of the nickel and copper layers, resulting in the enhancement of electromigration resistance.

Morphological Evolution of Intragranular Void under the Thermal-Stress Gradient Generated by the Steady State Heat Flow in Encapsulated Metallic Films: Special Reference to Flip Chip Solder Joints

The morphological evolution of intragranular voids induced by the surface drift-diffusion under the action of capillary forces, electromigration (EM) forces, and thermal stress gradients (TSG) associated with steady state heat flow is investigated in passivated metallic thin films via computer simulation using the front-tracking method. As far as the device reliability is concerned, the most critical configuration for interconnect failure occurs even when thermal stresses are low if the normalized ratio of interconnect width to void radius is less than certain range of values (which indicates the onset of heat flux crowding). This regime manifests itself by the formation of two symmetrically disposed finger shape extrusions (pitchfork shape slits) on the upper and lower shoulders of the void surface on the windward side. The void growth (associated with supersaturated vacancy condensation) on the other hand inhibits anode displacement but enhances cathode and shoulder slit velocities drastically, which causes lateral spreading.

Influence of Intermetallic Properties on Reliability of Lead-Free Flip-Chip Solder Joints

Electroplated pure tin bumping as a lead-free alternative for ultra fine pitch applications is a relatively easy process and has provided us with comparable results to eutectic Sn/Pb for thermal cycling reliability. Experimentally, it has been reported that a significantly higher (~40%) thermal cycle fatigue life is seen with the use of cobalt under bump metallization (UBM) instead of copper UBM for a flip-chip device assembled on an alumina substrate. In the current approaches used to estimate fatigue life of solder joints, the solder joint is treated as a homogenous material and modeled as such. However, the smaller joint sizes and higher reactivity of Sn implies that a larger amount of intermetallics are formed as a percentage of bump volume. The existing approach cannot account for the influence on the fatigue behavior of these intermetallic layers within the solder joint. In order to investigate if a simplified engineering approach can provide some insight into this issue, we have attempted to explicitly model the intermetallics as a continuous but separate part of the solder joint. The main damage parameter investigated is the accumulated inelastic strain in a single thermal cycle. From the results, it is clear that the Young's modulus of the intermetallic layer plays an important role, more so when the ratio of intermetallic thickness to the solder joint standoff increases. Thickness of the intermetallic layer also influences the overall strain accumulation in the same manner. The CTE of the intermetallic layer has a relatively lesser influence on the strain accumulation. Both the experimental and FE results suggest that changing the UBM from copper to cobalt can improve the fatigue life by 20%-30%.

Reliability of Fine Pitch Sn–3.8Ag–0.7Cu Flip Chip Solder Joints With Different Connection Pads on PCB

The reliability of fine pitch Sn–3.8Ag–0.7Cu flip chip solder joints with three different pads, i.e., bare pads, pads with solder masks, and pads with microvia, on printed circuit boards (PCBs) was studied through thermal cycling. After assembly, (Au,Ni)Sn4 intermetallics (IMCs) formed both in the bulk solder and at the interfaces due to the immersion-Au finish on the PCB side. The (Au,Ni)Sn4 IMCs formed in the solder joints on the pads with microvia were more abundant than those formed in the solder joints on the pads without microvia. The results showed that the solder joints on the pads with a microvia had poor reliability due to the insufficient solder volume and the formation of large amounts of (Au,Ni)Sn4 IMCs. The main crack initiation position was the corner of solder joint at the chip side. For the pads with microvia, the main location of failure was at the (Au,Ni)Sn4/solder interface on the chip side, and for the solder joints on bare pads and pads with solder mask, the possible failure location was in the bulk solder.

In-situ Study of Electromigration-induced Grain Rotation in Pb-free Solder Joint by Synchrotron Microdiffraction

AbstractThe rotation of Sn grains in Pb-free flip chip solder joints hasn't been reported in literature so far although it has been observed in Sn strips. In this letter, we report the detailed study of the grain orientation evolution induced by electromigration by synchrotron based white beam X-ray microdiffraction. It is found that the grains in solder joint rotate more slowly than in Sn strip even under higher current density. On the other hand, based on our estimation, the reorientation of the grains in solder joints also results in the reduction of electric resistivity, similar to the case of Sn strip. We will also discuss the reason why the electric resistance decreases much more in strips than in the Sn-based solders, and the different driving force for the grain growth in solder joint and in thin film interconnect lines.

Pronounced electromigration of Cu in molten Sn-based solders

The high local temperature in flip-chip solder joints of microprocessors has raised concerns that the solder, a low melting temperature alloy, might locally liquefy and consequently cause failure of the microprocessors. This article reports a highly interesting electromigration behavior when the solder is in the molten state. A 6.3 × 103 A/cm2 electron current was applied to molten Sn3.5Ag solder at 255 °C through two Cu electrodes. The high current density caused rapid dissolution of the Cu cathode. The dissolved Cu atoms were driven by electrons to the anode side and precipitated out as a thick, and sometimes continuous, layer of Cu6Sn5. The applied current caused the dissolution rate of the Cu cathode to increase by one order of magnitude. A major difference between the electromigration in the solid and molten state was identified to be the presence of different countering fluxes in response to electromigration. For electromigration in the molten state, the back-stress flux, which was operative for electromigration in the solid state, was missing, and instead a countering flux due to the chemical potential gradient was present. An equation for the chemical potential gradient, dμ/dx, required to balance the electromigration flux was derived to be dμ/dx = N°z*eρJ, where N° is Avogadro’s number, z* is the effective charge of Cu, e is the charge of an electron, ρ is the resistivity of the solder, and J is the electron current density.

Effect of current crowding on whisker growth at the anode in flip chip solder joints

Owing to the line-to-bump configuration in flip chip solder joints, current crowding occurs when electrons enter into or exit from the solder bump. At the cathode contact, where electrons enter into the bump, current crowding induced pancake-type void formation has now been observed widely. At the anode contact, where electrons exit from the bump, we report here that whisker is formed. Results of both eutectic SnPb and SnAgCu solder joints are presented and compared. The cross-sectioned surface in SnPb showed dimple and bulge after electromigration, while that of SnAgCu remained flat. The difference is due to a larger back stress in the SnAgCu, consequently, electromigration in SnAgCu is slower than that in SnPb. Nanoindentation markers were used to measure the combined atomic fluxes of back stress and electromigration.

Secondary Current Crowding Effect during Electromigration of Flip-Chip Solder Joints

In flip-chip interconnects under current stressing, the primary current crowding effect occurs at the entrance edge of the contact interface with the highest current density. In this study, an increased current density also occurred at the other edge of the contact interface, followed by a selective dissolution of under bump metallization. After primary current crowding, the rest of electrons flow to the metallization edge, followed by an abrupt change in direction toward the anode. Primary current crowding is attributed to the electrical field change whereas the secondary crowding effect is due to the physical blocking of the electron flow. Because this effect is not as great as that of primary current crowding, it must be assisted by thermal diffusion.

Effect of UBM Thickness on the Mean Time to Failure of Flip-Chip Solder Joints under Electromigration

Flip-chip solder joints with Cu/Ni/Al underbump metallurgy (UBM) on the chip and an Au/Ni surface finish on the substrate were studied under current stressing at an ambient temperature of 150°C. Three different Ni thicknesses in the Cu/Ni/Al UBM (0.3, 0.5, and 0.8 μm) were used in order to investigate the effect of the Ni thickness on reliability. The solder used was eutectic Pb-Sn, and the applied current density was 5 × 103 A/cm2. The results show that the combined effect of current crowding and the local Joule heating near the entry points of electrons into the joints induced asymmetric Ni UBM consumption. Once the Ni was exhausted in a certain region, this region became nonconductive and the flow of electrons was diverted to the neighboring region. This neighboring region then became the place where electrons entered the joint, and the Ni UBM there was consumed at an accelerated rate. This process repeated itself, and the Ni-depleted region continued to extend, creating an ever larger nonconductive region. The solder joints eventually failed when the nonconductive region extended across the entire contact window of the joints. This failure model supports the observation that joints with a thicker Ni tend to have a longer average lifetime.

Effect of void propagation on bump resistance due to electromigration in flip-chip solder joints using Kelvin structure

Three-dimensional modeling is employed to simulate various Kelvin structures for detecting the change in bump resistance due to void formation and propagation during electromigration in flip-chip solder joints. It is found that the Kelvin structures can sense the highest voltage drop when its voltage probes are placed at the current entrance into the bump on the chip side, and it is thus the most sensitive design to monitor void formation and propagation. When the bump resistance increases 20% of its initial value, the depletion percentage of contact opening ranges from 21.0% to 65.0%, depending on the position of the probes.

Mesomechanical modelling of SnAgCu solder joints in flip chip

In modern microelectronic packages (considered here as a mesoscale), the size of microstructural features of an alloy is compatible with the scale of an entire element that can contain only one or a few grains. In this case, the mechanical behaviour of the element deviates from isotropic/homogenous character at the macroscopic scale of a bulk specimen, comprising a large number of randomly oriented grains. Generally, a crystal-plasticity model, which is based on dislocation sliding in certain slip systems, is applied to describe a local lattice-induced anisotropic behaviour. However, even at a room temperature, the movement of dislocations is not a single mechanism of the inelastic behaviour of eutectic SnAgCu solder due to its low melting point. Under a low-magnitude loading condition, creep also has an effect due to a movement of vacancies. At high temperatures, this creep can become a dominant mechanism for the inelastic behaviour, diminishing the role of the crystal-plasticity model. This paper accounts for the creep component of deformation and unites it with the traditional crystal-plasticity model. In addition, deformation due to thermal expansion is introduced into the constitutive equation to capture the major mechanisms of the mechanical behaviour of a SnAgCu solder micro-joint used in electronics.

A Comparative Study of the Solder Joint Reliability in Flip Chip Assemblies with Compliant and Rigid Substrates

The reliability of solder joints in flip chip assemblies with both compliant (flex) and rigid (PCB) substrates was studied by accelerated temperature cycling tests and finite element modeling (FEM). In-process electrical resistance measurements and nondestructive evaluations were conducted to monitor solder joint failure behavior, hence the fatigue failure life. Meanwhile, the predicted fatigue failure life of solder joints was obtained by Darveaux’s crack initiation and growth models. It can be concluded that the solder joints in flip chip on flex assembly (FCOF) have longer fatigue life than those in flip chip on rigid board assembly (FCOB); the maximum von Mises stress/strain and the maximum shear stress/strain of FCOB solder joints are much higher than those of FCOF solder joints; the thermal strain and stress in solder joints is reduced by flex buckling or bending and flex substrate could dissipate energy that otherwise would be absorbed by solder joint. Therefore, the substrate flexibility has a great effect on solder joint reliability and the reliability improvement was attributed to flex buckling or bending during temperature cycling.

Electromigration Reliability and Morphologies of 62Sn–36Pb–2Ni and 62Sn–36Pb–2Cu Flip-Chip Solder Joints

The near-eutectic Sn-Pb-Cu and Sn-Pb-Ni ternary solder alloys were developed based on the consideration of strength and fatigue reliability enhancement of solder joints in part via the altering of formation of interfacial intermetallic compounds. In this work, we examine electromigration reliability and morphologies of 62Sn-36Pb-2Ni and 62Sn-36Pb-2Cu flip-chip solder joints subjected to two test conditions that combine different average current densities and ambient temperatures: 5 kA/cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> at 150 degC and 20 kA/cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> at 3 degC. Under the test condition of 5 kA/cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> at 150 degC, 62Sn-36Pb-2Cu is overwhelmingly better than 62Sn-36Pb-2Ni in terms of electromigration reliability. However, under the test condition of 20 kA/cm2 at 30 degC, the electromigration fatigue life of 62Sn-36Pb-2Ni shows a profuse enhancement and exceeds that of 62Sn-36Pb-2Cu. Electromigration-induced morphologies are also examined on the cross sections of solder joints using scanning electron microscopy.

Microstructural evolution and atomic transport by thermomigration in eutectic tin-lead flip chip solder joints

The thermomigration behavior of eutectic tin-lead flip chip solder joints at an ambient temperature of 150 °C was investigated in terms of microstructural evolution, atomic transport, and numerical simulation. Pb accumulation and phase separation were observed in solder joints near a melting temperature after 50 h, which was supported by energy dispersive x-ray and element mapping analysis. It is believed that Pb atoms migrated from the chip side (the hot side) to the substrate side (the cold side) under a temperature gradient. Thermal electrical finite element simulation for the real flip chip test structure showed the existence of a temperature difference between the substrate side and the chip side. In addition, a temperature gradient above 1000 °C∕cm across the adjacent unpowered solder joints was predicted. This was also verified by temperature measurements with thermocouples. The atomic flux of Pb due to thermomigration was calculated here, which was agreeable with the values originally reported. Also, the driving force of thermomigration was estimated to be 10−17 N, even approaching the same order with that of electromigration under a current density of 104 A∕cm2.

Factors influencing current density distribution and current crowding in flip chip solder joints

Three-dimensional simulations were carried out to investigate the current density distribution in the flip chip solder joints. There were two kinds of factors influencing the current density distributions in the flip chip solder joints, i.e. the structural geometry and the material's properties. It is found that increasing the dimensions of trace and under bump metallisation (UBM) and/or decreasing the resistivity of trace, UBM and solder bump are beneficial to relieve the current crowding. The experimental results also show that microvoids were formed at the cathode side of Cu/Sn–37Pb/Cu and narrower Cu trace Cu/Sn–3.0Ag–0.5Cu/Cu structures, but not at that structure with a wider Cu trace under the same test conditions. However, increasing the dimensions of the solder joint unrestrictedly departs from the miniaturisation trend of integrated circuit. But this difficulty can be overcome by optimising the above factors synthetically with finite element modelling method. The results also partly account for a better electromigration (EM) resistant ability of Sn–Ag–Cu than Sn–Pb solder.

Electromigration in the Flip Chip Solder Joint of Sn-8Zn-3Bi on Copper Pads

Electromigration in Sn-8Zn-3Bi flip chip solder bumps on Cu pads has been studied at 120°C with an average current density of 4 × 103 A/cm2 and 4.5 × 104 A/cm2. Due to the polarity effect, the thickness of the intermetallic compound Cu-Zn (γ-phase) formed at the anode is much greater than that at the cathode. The solder joint fails after 117 h of stressing at 4.5 × 104 A/cm2, and void formation at the cathode can clearly be seen after polishing. However, it is the melting at the edge of the bump that causes the solder joint to fail. A simulation of the current density distribution indicates that the current density is not distributed uniformly, and current crowding occurs inside the bump. The results indicate that the increase of current density associated with Joule heating has affected melting and enhanced damage in the solder joint during electromigration.