Modified micro-macro thermo-mechanical modelling of ceramic ball grid array packages

The ceramic ball grid array (CBGA) packages are typically used for high I/O count area array assemblies. As the package size is large, the distance to neutral point is also high resulting in a large thermal deformation mismatch between the CBGA package and the printed circuit board (PCB). In order to cope with this problem, a special solder joint connection is used. As CBGA assemblies are used for high pin count assemblies, a full 3D thermo-mechanical modelling of an assembly to an FR4 board is not possible anymore. Therefore, a modified micro-macro methodology is proposed where only the critical solder joint is modelled in detail, while the other connections are replaced by equivalent connections. For several CBGA configurations, simulation results are correlated to thermal cycling test results. Finally, a parameter sensitivity study shows that the PCB properties have a significant influence on the solder joint reliability. © 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.status: publishe