FBGA User’s Guide
Version 4.2, November 1, 2002
71
In these experiments, the FBGA-BT packages (0.3mm
solder balls) were assembled on test boards that were
initially designed for the FBGA-PI package (0.4mm solder
balls). The test boards were designed to have 0.3mm pads
that matched the 0.3mm openings in the PI tape (where the
solder balls are attached) of the FBGA-PI package. The
corresponding opening in the solder mask of the FBGA-BT
package is 0.25mm. It is hence expected that the use of test
boards designed or optimized for the FBGA-BT package
could result in even better FBGA-BT data than that
presented here.
(B) Effect of Package Body Size in FBGA-PI
The FBGA-PI test discussed in the earlier section was on
the 8x9mm body size, which is the package for the 16Mb
density Flash product. The 6x9mm FBGA-PI, the package
size for the 8Mb density device, was also put on the 0/100
degC test. In this case also, 20mil test boards were used.
Figure 9 shows the Weibull plots for both the 8x9mm and
6x9mm FBGA-PI packages. The relevant Weibull
parameters are in Table 4 and field life projections in
Figure 10. As seen in the Weibull plots and the field life
projections, the larger 8x9mm package demonstrated a
lower lifetime than the 6x9mm package. This difference is
attributed to the larger package body size and the larger die
size of the 16Mb device, i.e. the domination of the low CTE
Silicon die is more pronounced in the larger package for
the higher density Flash product. Based on these findings,
it was anticipated that even larger packages for higher
density products (32/64Mb) would show poorer solder joint
lifetimes in the FBGA-PI package due to the same reasons.
Figure 9. Effect of package body size in FBGA-PI
Table 4. Weibull parameters for different body sizes
(C)
Use of Larger Solder Balls on FBGA-PI
Design / package changes to improve the board level
reliability of the FBGA-PI were investigated. Design
parameters that may impact the board level reliability are
substrate material, substrate thickness, mold compound
Figure 10. Field life projections
material, die attach compliancy, solder ball size, etc. The
package design variable evaluated here was solder ball size.
The solder ball size on the initial FBGA-PI package was
0.40mm nominal. This ball size was increased to 0.45mm
nominal. Though the ball size was increased, the overall
height of the package was maintained below 1.2mm. The
PI tape opening was increased from 0.3mm to 0.38mm.
The new test boards had 0.35mm pads. Based on industry
practice, this was deliberately maintained a little smaller
than the 0.38mm PI tape openings on the new FBGA-PI
package.
Figure 11 shows the Weibull plots for both the 0.4mm ball
and 0.45mm ball FBGA-PI packages. The relevant
Weibull parameters are in Table 5. Figure 12 shows the
field life projections for the FBGA-PI packages with
0.40mm and 0.45mm solder balls. As expected, the use of
the larger solder balls results in an improved solder joint
lifetime.
Figure 11. Use of larger solder balls on FBGA-PI
Table 5. Weibull Parameters for solder ball size
From the Weibull plots it can be seen that it is challenging
to quantify the improvement due to the use of larger solder
-15C / 25C, 1 cyc/day
Comparison of packagesat 100 PPM cume fail
0
10
20
30
40
6x9mm FBGA-PI
8x9mm FBGA-PI
P
Weibull plot for 6x9 mm and 8x9 mm FBGA-PI
Effect of Package Body Size
-6.9
-4.6
-2.3
0
2.3
4.6
(100)
6.9
9.2
11.5
Ln(Cycles)
L
6x9 FBGA-PI
8x9 FBGA-PI
63.2%
10%
1%
0.1%
99.99%
(10000)
(100000)
(1000)
8x9 mm FBGA-PI with Larger Solder Balls
-6.9
-4.6
-2.3
0
2.3
4.6
6.9
9.2
11.5
Ln(Cycles)
L
8x9 FBGA-PI 0.4 mm dia
ball
8x9 FBGA-PI 0.45 mm
dia ball
63.2%
10%
1%
99.99%
Package
N63.2 (cyc)
Beta
# fails / SS
8x9 mm FBGA-PI, 0.40 ball
8x9 mm FBGA-PI, 0.45 ball
2295
2424
3.9
5.5
52 / 60
40 / 60
Package
N63.2 (cyc)
Beta
# fails / SS
8x9 mm FBGA-PI
6x9 mm FBGA-PI
2295
2685
3.9
6.0
52 / 60
38 / 60