BGA Solder Life Prediction under Combined Power and Temperature Cycling Condition

Solder interconnect failure is a known life limiting failure mechanism that is induced by cyclic temperature excursions. Thermal fatigue reliability of solder interconnects is conventionally assessed by simple temperature cycling test, which applies a constant temperature range, fixed dwell times and ramp rates during the test. However, due to the user controlled power cycles, non-constant workloads, and changes in the surrounding environment, electronics in the field often experience a complex combination of temperature and power cycling. In this study, the effect of power cycling superposed on a simple temperature cycling is experimentally examined. Furthermore, a scheme for modeling the solder interconnect fatigue life of Plastic Ball Grid Array (PBGA) parts under the concurrent power and temperature cycling. Damage, defined as the number of applied cycles over the number of survivable cycles, from the simple temperature cycle and the power cycle are linearly added using Miner's rule, and compared with the concurrent temperature and power cycling test. Cycles to failure of each condition is derived by life testing conducted on Plastic Ball Grid Array (PBGA) assembled with eutectic and SAC305 solder.