UMD Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3
New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a given thesis/dissertation in DRUM.
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
Browse
4 results
Search Results
Item A THERMOMECHANICAL FATIGUE LIFE PREDICTION METHODOLOGY FOR BALL GRID ARRAY COMPONENTS WITH REWORKABLE UNDERFILL(2019) Serebreni, Maxim; McCluskey, Patrick; Mechanical Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Underfill materials were originally developed to improve the thermo-mechanical reliability of flip-chip devices due to the large coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) mismatch between the silicon die and substrate. More recently, underfill materials, specifically reworkable underfills, have been used to improve reliability of second level interconnects in ball grid array (BGA) packages in harsh end-use environments such as automotive, military and aerospace. In these environments, electronic components are exposed to mechanical shock, vibration, and large fluctuations in temperatures. Although reworkable underfills improve the reliability of BGA components under mechanical shock and vibration, some reworkable underfills have been shown to reduce reliability during thermal cycling environments. Consequently, this research employs experimental and numerical approaches to investigate the impact of reworkable underfill materials on thermomechanical fatigue life of solder joints in BGA packages. In the first section of the analysis, material characterization of a reworkable underfill is performed to determine appropriate material models for reworkable underfills. In the second analysis section, a variety of underfill materials with different properties are exposed to harsh and benign thermal cycles to determine the stress state responsible for reducing fatigue life of solder joints in BGA packages. In the final analysis section, simulations are performed on the BGAs with reworkable underfill to develop a fatigue life predication methodology that implements a modified mode separation scheme. The model developed in this work provides a working fatigue life approach for BGA packages with reworkable underfills exposed to thermal loading. The results of this study can be utilized by the automotive, military, and aerospace industries to optimize underfill material selection process and provide reliability assessment of BGA components in real world environments.Item An Analytical Model for Developing a Canary Device to Predict Solder Joint Fatigue Failure under Thermal Cycling Conditions(2015) Mathew, Sony; Pecht, Michael G; Mechanical Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Solder joint fatigue failure is a prevalent failure mechanism for electronics subjected to thermal cycling loads. The failure is attributed to the thermo-mechanical stresses in the solder joints caused by differences in the coefficient of thermal expansion of the printed circuit board (PCB), electronic component, and solder. Physics of failure models incorporate the knowledge of a product's material properties, geometry, life-cycle loading and failure mechanisms to estimate the remaining useful life of the product. Engelmaier's model is widely used in the industry to estimate the fatigue life of electronics under thermal cycling conditions. However, for leadless electronic components, the Engelmaier strain metric does not consider the solder attachment area, the solder fillet thickness, and the thickness of the PCB. In this research a first principles model to estimate the strain in the solder interconnects has been developed. This new model considers the solder attachment area, and the geometry and material properties of the solder, component and PCB respectively. The developed model is further calibrated based on the results of finite element analysis. The calibrated model is validated by comparing its results with results of testing of test assemblies under different thermal cycling loading conditions. Further, the calibrated first principles model is used to design reduced solder attachment areas for electronic components so that under the same loading conditions they fail faster than components with regular solder attachment areas. Such structures are called expendable Canary devices and can be used to predict the solder joint fatigue failure of regular electronic components in the actual field conditions. The feasibility of using a leadless chip resistor with reduced solder attachment area as a canary device to predict the failure of ball grid array (BGA) component has been proven based on testing data. Further, a methodology for the developing and implementing canary device based prognostics has been developed in this research. Practical implementation issues, including estimating the number of canary devices required, determination of appropriate prognostic distance, and failure prediction schemes that may be used in the actual field conditions have also been addressed in this research.Item MICROSTRUCTURAL CHARACTERIZATION AND THERMAL CYCLING RELIABILITY OF SOLDERS UNDER ISOTHERMAL AGING AND ELECTRICAL CURRENT(2012) Chauhan, Preeti; Pecht, Michael G; Mechanical Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Solder joints on printed circuit boards provide electrical and mechanical connections between electronic devices and metallized patterns on boards. These solder joints are often the cause of failure in electronic packages. Solders age under storage and operational life conditions, which can include temperature, mechanical loads, and electrical current. Aging occurring at a constant temperature is called isothermal aging. Isothermal aging leads to coarsening of the bulk microstructure and increased interfacial intermetallic compounds at the solder-pad interface. The coarsening of the solder bulk degrades the creep properties of solders, whereas the voiding and brittleness of interfacial intermetallic compounds leads to mechanical weakness of the solder joint. Industry guidelines on solder interconnect reliability test methods recommend preconditioning the solder assemblies by isothermal aging before conducting reliability tests. The guidelines assume that isothermal aging simulates a "reasonable use period," but do not relate the isothermal aging levels with specific use conditions. Studies on the effect of isothermal aging on the thermal cycling reliability of tin-lead and tin-silver-copper solders are limited in scope, and results have been contradictory. The effect of electrical current on solder joints has been has mostly focused on current densities above 104A/cm2 with high ambient temperature (≥100oC), where electromigration, thermomigration, and Joule heating are the dominant failure mechanisms. The effect of current density below 104A/cm2 on temperature cycling fatigue of solders has not been established. This research provides the relation between isothermal aging and the thermal cycling reliability of select Sn-based solders. The Sn-based solders with 3%, 1%, and 0% silver content that have replaced tin-lead are studied and compared against tin-lead solder. The activation energy and growth exponents of the Arrhenius model for the intermetallic growth in the solders are provided. An aging metric to quantify the aging of solder joints, in terms of phase size in the solder bulk and interfacial intermetallic compound thickness at the solder-pad interface, is established. Based on the findings of thermal cycling tests on aged solder assemblies, recommendations are made for isothermal aging of solders before thermal cycling tests. Additionally, the effect of active electrical current at 103 A/cm2 on thermal cycling reliability is reported.Item THERMAL CYCLING RELIABILITY OF LEAD-FREE SOLDERS (SAC305 AND SN3.5AG) FOR HIGH TEMPERATURE APPLICATIONS(2010) George, Elviz; Pecht, Michael G; Mechanical Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Eutectic tin lead was the most widely used solder interconnect in the electronics industry before the adoption of lead-free legislation. But eutectic tin lead solder has a low melting point (183oC) and was not suited for some high temperature applications, such as oil and gas exploration, automotive, and defense. Hence, for these applications, the electronics industry had to rely on specialized solders. In this study, ball grid arrays (BGAs), quad flat packages (QFPs), and surface mount resistors assembled with SAC305 and Sn3.5Ag solder pastes were subjected to thermal cycling from -40oC to 185oC. Commercially available electroless nickel immersion gold (ENIG) board finish was compared to proprietary Sn-based board finish designed for high temperatures. The data analysis showed that the type of solder paste and board finish used did not have an impact on the reliability of BGAs. The failure site was on the package side of the solder joint. The morphology of intermetallic compounds (IMCs) formed after thermal cycling was analyzed.