Mechanical Degradation, Thermal-and Electromigration in Large Volume Solder Joints

The objective of the paper is to present the results of electromigration, thermomigration and mechanical degradation experiments on large volume solder joints of power electronic components (TO packages). Two solder alloys -SnAgCu and SnPb -were tested for mechanical degradation, thermo-and electromigration behaviour. A test setup for experiments on electromigration will be described that allows testing at very high absolute currents (up to I= 100 A) which are necessary for electromigration testing of these large volume solder joints. The numerous difficulties of transmitting such high currents to the solder joints of the relevant TO-components will be discussed. Thermographic analysis of the test structures will be presented that show accurate adjustment of test temperatures at the solder joints of the TO-components.