Influence of halogen-free compound and lead-free solder paste on on-board reliability of green CSP (chip scale package)

In the past few years, many studies have reported on the formula of solder metal alloy materials. This paper discusses the influence of organic materials characters, the decomposing rate of flux in lead-free solder paste and coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE) of halogen-free mold compounds during the on-board reliability test, and the failure mechanism in both 63Sn/37Pb and Sn–3.5Ag–0.5Cu lead-free solder balls was reported. The thermal decomposing behavior of flux in the solder paste induced voids in solder joints was examined by thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) and X-ray perspective, respectively. On-board temperature cycle test (TCT) reliability failed specimens were sectioned and analyzed by the optical microscope (OM) and X-ray. The evolutions of package warpage change of two kinds of potential halogen-free compounds during the TCT reliability process were monitored by specially designed thermal mechanic analysis (TMA) experiments. The experimental results show that higher IR-reflow peak temperature induced voids forming in the solder joints and then failure mode change from interface between intermetallic and solder to cracks cut across the big voids during TCT test, worse TCT reliability performance ensued. Moreover, according to on-board reliability testing data show that the compound with larger package warpage change generated larger cumulate plastic work in solder joint that caused early failure during TCT process.