Technical Library | 2010-05-27 22:12:10.0
The quad flat pack no lead or quad flat non-leaded (QFN) is one of the fastest growing package types in the electronics industry today. While the advantages of QFNs are well documented, concerns arise with its reliability and manufacturability. Acceptance of this package, especially in long-life, severe-environment, high-reliability applications, is currently limited. One of the most common drivers for reliability failures is inappropriate adoption of new technologies, such as the case with QFN. In this presentation, we will review and discuss QFN related reliability concerns and challenges, and propose Physics-of-Failure (PoF) based approaches to allow the confident introduction of QFN components into electronics products.
Technical Library | 2018-05-23 12:12:43.0
Driven by miniaturization, cost reduction and tighter requirements for electrical and thermal performance, the use of lead-frame based bottom-termination components (LF-BTC) as small-outline no-leads (SON), quad-flat no leads (QFN) packages etc., is increasing. However, a major distractor for the use of such packages in high-reliability applications has been the lack of a visible solder (toe) fillet on the edge surface of the pins: because the post-package assembly singulation process typically leaves bare copper leadframe at the singulation edge, which is not protected against oxidation and thus does not easily solder-wet, a solder fillet (toe fillet) does not generally develop.
Technical Library | 2014-03-06 19:04:07.0
Over the last few years, there has been an increase in the rate of Head-in-Pillow component soldering defects which interrupts the merger of the BGA/CSP component solder spheres with the molten solder paste during reflow. The issue has occurred across a broad segment of industries including consumer, telecom and military. There are many reasons for this issue such as warpage issues of the component or board, ball co-planarity issues for BGA/CSP components and non-wetting of the component based on contamination or excessive oxidation of the component coating. The issue has been found to occur not only on lead-free soldered assemblies where the increased soldering temperatures may give rise to increase component/board warpage but also on tin-lead soldered assemblies.
Technical Library | 2019-07-23 22:33:47.0
The Quad Flat Pack No Leads (QFN) style of leadless packaging [also known as a Land Grid Array (LGA)] is rapidly increasing in us e for wireless, automotive, telecom and many other areas becaus e of its low cost, low stand-off height and excellent thermal and electri cal properties. With the implementation of any new package type, there is always a learning curve for its use in design and processing as well as for the Process and Quality Engineers who have to get to grips with the challenges that these packages bring. Therefore, this paper will provide examples of the common process defects that can be seen with QFNs /LGAs when using optical and x-ray inspection as part of manufacturing quality control. Results of trials conducted on four PCB finishes and using vapour phase and convection reflow will be discussed.
Technical Library | 2021-04-08 00:30:49.0
As the electronic industry moves to lead-free assembly and finer-pitch circuits, widely used printed wiring board (PWB) finish, SnPb HASL, has been replaced with lead-free and coplanar PWB finishes such as OSP, ImAg, ENIG, and ImSn. While SnPb HASL offers excellent corrosion protection of the underlying copper due to its thick coating and inherent corrosion resistance, the lead-free board finishes provide reduced corrosion protection to the underlying copper due to their very thin coating. For ImAg, the coating material itself can also corrode in more aggressive environments. This is an issue for products deployed in environments with high levels of sulfur containing pollutants encountered in the current global market. In those corrosive environments, creep corrosion has been observed and led to product failures in very short service life (1-5 years). Creep corrosion failures within one year of product deployment have also been reported. This has prompted an industry-wide effort to understand creep corrosion
Technical Library | 2018-10-03 20:41:44.0
Voids in solder joints plague many electronics manufacturers. Do you have voids in your life? We have good news for you, there are many excellent ways to "Fill the Void." This paper is a continuation of previous work on voiding in which the following variables were studied: water soluble lead-free solder pastes, a variety of stencil designs, and reflow profiles. Quad Flat No-Lead (QFN) component thermal pads were used as the test vehicle. The voiding results were summarized and recommendations were made for reduction of voiding.
Technical Library | 2015-07-14 13:19:10.0
Bottom terminated components (BTC) are leadless components where terminations are protectively plated on the underside of the package. They are all slightly different and have different names, such as QFN (quad flat no lead), DFN (dual flat no lead), LGA (land grid array) and MLF (micro lead-frame. BTC assembly has increased rapidly in recent years. This type of package is attractive due to its low cost and good performance like improved signal speeds and enhanced thermal performance. However, bottom terminated components do not have any leads to absorb the stress and strain on the solder joints. It relies on the correct amount of solder deposited during the assembly process for having a good solder joint quality and reliable reliability. Voiding is typically seen on the BTC solder joint, especially on the thermal pad of the component. Voiding creates a major concern on BTC component’s solder joint reliability. There is no current industry standard on the voiding criteria for bottom terminated component. The impact of voiding on solder joint reliability and the impact of voiding on the heat transfer characteristics at BTC component are not well understood. This paper will present some data to address these concerns.
Technical Library | 2023-09-18 14:10:01.0
As with many advancements in the electronics industry, consumer electronics is driving the trends for electronic packaging technologies toward reducing size and increasing functionality. Microelectronics meeting the technology needs for higher performance, reduced power consumption and size, and off the- shelf availability. Due to the breadth of work being performed in the area of microelectronics packaging/components, this report limits it presentation to board design, manufacturing, and processing parameters on assembly reliability for leadless (e.g., quad flat no-lead (QFN) or a generic term of bottom termination component (BTC)) packages. This style of package was selected for investigation because of its significant growth, lower cost, and improved functionality, especially for use in an RF application.
Technical Library | 2019-10-10 00:26:28.0
Voids are a plague to our electronics and must be eliminated! Over the last few years we have studied voiding in solder joints and published three technical papers on methods to "Fill the Void." This paper is part four of this series. The focus of this work is to mitigate voids for via in pad circuit board designs. Via holes in Quad Flat No-Lead (QFN) thermal pads create voiding issues. Gasses can come out of via holes and rise into the solder joint creating voids. Solder can also flow down into the via holes creating gaps in the solder joint. One method of preventing this is via plugging. Via holes can be plugged, capped, or left open. These via plugging options were compared and contrasted to each other with respect to voiding. Another method of minimizing voiding is through solder paste stencil design. Solder paste can be printed around the via holes with gas escape routes. This prevents gasses from via holes from being trapped in the solder joint. Several stencil designs were tested and voiding performance compared and contrasted. In many cases voiding will be reduced only if a combination of mitigation strategies are used. Recommendations for combinations of via hole plugging and stencil design are given. The aim of this paper is to help the reader to "Fill the Void."
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