Study of Structure and Failure Mechanisms in ACA Interconnections Using SEM

The trends in the electronics industry have for several decades been for smaller size combined with greater functionality. One enabler for this trend has been development of new packaging solutions which has required the development of new materials and also new interconnections technologies. In the development of these technologies it has been essential to have effective tools to study the structure of the packages and their failure mechanisms. Due to the versatility of electronics packages concerning materials, structures, and functions a plethora of different methods have been used. These include for example electrical characterization technologies, x-ray, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), scanning acoustic microscopy (SAM), optical microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DCS), and thermomechanical analysis (TMA) (Chan et al., 2000; Jang et al., 2008; Yim & Paik, 2001).