Numerical Investigation of Thermo-Mechanical Behaviour of Ball Grid Array Solder Joint at High Temperature Excursion

The solder joints of surface mount components (SMCs) experience thermal degradation culminating in creep and plastic shear strain deformation when subjected to cyclic temperature load over time. Degradation at the joints is due to thermal stress induced by the incompatible, differential and nonlinear expansion mismatch of the different bonded materials in the assembly. The stress magnitude influences the strain behaviour. Plastic strain response of solder joint is critical at the materials interface at the lower part of the joint due to the occurrence of wider variation in the coefficient of thermal expansion of the bonded materials and this may lead to static structural failure. The life expectancy of electronic components reduces exponentially as the operating temperature increases thus making reliability a key concern for electronic systems operating at high temperatures and in harsh environments. This paper reports on the numerical investigation of thermo-mechanical response of a critical BGA joint especially the character of plastic deformation of SnPb solder used in forming the joint as well as the joint’s high temperature reliability. The analysis uses a 3-D models to predict the effect of the transient thermal load on the static structural integrity of a single BGA joint. In this study, the base diameter of solder ball (interface between the PCB, copper pad and the solder) experienced higher damage than the top diameter interconnects. The paper provides a simplified methodology to study the reliability of BGA solder joint at high temperatures excursion.