Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T13:22:13.818Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Reliability of Solder Joints

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2013

D.R. Frear  and
F.G. Yost
Get access

Extract

In early electronic technologies, circuit components were attached to circuit boards by mechanical means. The electrical leads were either twisted together or mechanically interlocked to a board prior to soldering. The possibility of an unreliable solder joint causing any kind of circuit failure was remote. Interconnections were made intrinsic to the board by applying solder to increase electrical and thermal conductance. Technological advances and the need for high-density electronics have since eliminated the luxury of mechanical interlocks. Soldering in advanced applications, like surface mount technology (SMT), provides electrical, thermal, and mechanical interconnections between the board and its electrical components. In SMT, solder joints are the only mechanical features on the board and must hold components in place in a wide range of environments. The solder joints themselves are decreasing in size as increased chip functionality and clock frequencies become available. The failure of a single solder joint can render a device, or an entire electrical system, inoperable. Therefore, as insignificant and innocuous as they may seem, solder joints have become a critical aspect of electronic circuit reliability.

Type
Materials Reliability in Microelectronics
Information
MRS Bulletin , Volume 18 , Issue 12 , December 1993 , pp. 49 - 54
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Science News, 140 (1992) p. 182.Google Scholar
2.Frear, D.R., Jones, W.B., and Kinsman, K.R., Solder Mechanics: A State-of-the-Art Assessment, TMS Publications, Warrendale, PA (1991).Google Scholar
3.Yost, E.G., Ganyard, E.P., and Karnowsky, M.M., Metall. Trans. A., 7A (1976) p. 1141.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4.Kang, S., Zommer, N.D., Feucht, D.L., and Heckel, R.W., IEEE Trans. Parts, Hybrids, and Packaging, PHP-13 (1977) p. 318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5.Frear, D.R., PhD thesis, University of California-Berkeley, 1987.Google Scholar
6.Keller, H.N.: IEEE Trans. Comp. Hybrids and Manufac. Tech., CHMT-4 (1981) p. 132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7.Frear, D., Grivas, D., and Morris, J.W Jr., J. Electron. Mater., 18 (1989) p. 671.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8.Frear, D.R. and Vianco, P.T., “Intermetallic Growth and Mechanical Behavior of Low Melting Temperature Solder Alloys,” Metall. Trans. A., to be published.Google Scholar
9.Frear, D.R., Hosking, F.M., and Vianco, P.T., Materials Developments in Microelectronics Packaging: Performance and Reliability (ASM International, Metals Park, OH, 1991) p. 229.Google Scholar
10.Barlow, R.E. and Proschan, F., Mathematical Theory of Reliability (John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1965).Google Scholar
11.Kay, P.J. and MacKay, C.A., Trans. Inst. Metal Finishing, 54 (1976) p. 68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12.Hulett, J.R., Quarterly Reviews, 18 (1964) p. 227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13.Romig, A.D. Jr., Yost, F.G., and Hlava, P.F., Microbeam Analysis-1984, (San Francisco Press, San Francisco, 1984).Google Scholar
14.Pan, T-Y. and Winterbottom, W.L., Proc. ASME Winter Annual Mtg. (1990).Google Scholar
15.Lau, J.H. and Harkins, G., Proc. IEEE 38th ECC Conf., 38 (1988) p. 23.Google Scholar
16.Frear, D., Grivas, D., and Morris, J.W. Jr., J. Electron. Mater., 18 (1989) p. 671.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17.Beavis, L.C., Karnowsky, M.M., and Yost, F.G., U.S. Patent No. 5,121, 871.Google Scholar
18.Frear, D.R., Jones, W.B., Morris, J.W. Jr., and Mei, Z., in Manufacturing Processes and Materials Challenges in Microelectronic Packaging, edited by Chen, W.T., Engle, P., and Jahsman, W.E. (ASME, AMD-131/EEP-1, 1991) p. 1.Google Scholar