Transition from Plastic Ball Grid Array to High Performance Wire Bondable Tape Ball Grid Array

Mention Tape Ball Grid Array (TBGA) and the first thing comes to mind is the high cost. In fact, most end users rightfully associate TBGA with the less commonly practiced assembly processes such as Tape Automated Bonding (TAB) and expensive gold bump process. This impression of TBGA repels end users and limits TBGA to mostly high end applications and a very narrow spectrum of lead counts. Times have changed! Popular and well established wire bonding technology has been successfully used to mass produce a new family of TBGA called High-performance Ball Grid Array (HBGA). The fine line characteristics of tape technology united with the ease of wire bonding process, position HBGA as a versatile package of choice for a wide range of reasons. Comparable cost to PBGA, far superior thermal and electrical performance, higher lead count per given real estate, exceptional warpage and coplanarity, cavity down configuration, and ease of manufacturing are among a few to mention. These points make HBGA a worthy choice over PBGA. This paper will discuss cost, construction, reliability, material design considerations, warpage, and overall thermal and electrical performance of the HBGA package.