Technical Library | 2020-11-09 16:59:53.0
A customer contacted ACI Technologies regarding a high failure rate of their assemblies. They provided assemblies to be X-rayed and inspected for the purpose of identifying any process related issues such as (but not limited to) solder and assembly workmanship and evidence of damage due to moisture related problems during reflow (a.k.a. "popcorning"). Moisture damage usually appears as physical damage to the component. The first indication of moisture damage would be externally observable changes to the package in the form of bulging or fractures to the outer surface of the component, an example of which is shown in Figure 1. Internally observable indicators of moisture damage typically include fractures to the die inside the package and lifted or fractured wire bonds. These conditions would be apparent during transmissive X-ray inspection. Another symptom of moisture related damage would be inconsistent solder joint sizes that result from package deformation during the liquidus phase of the reflow process. None of these indicators of moisture related damage were present on the customer samples.
Technical Library | 2018-12-05 14:52:23.0
The multilayer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) has become a widely used electronics component both for surface mount and embedded PCB applications. The MLCC technologies have gone through a number of material and process changes such as the shift from precious metal electrode (PME) configurations which were predominantly silver/palladium to base metal electrodes (BME) dominated by nickel. Each of these changes were accompanied by both quality and reliability problems. The MLCC industry is now in the midst of an unprecedented set of challenges similar to the Moore’s Law challenges being faced by the semiconductor industry. While capacitor failures have historically been responsible for a significant percentage of product field failures (most estimates are ~30%) we are seeing disturbing developments in the low voltage (
Technical Library | 2024-04-22 20:16:01.0
The solid-state electronics industry faces relentless pressure to improve performance, increase functionality, decrease costs, and reduce design and development time. As a result, device feature sizes are now in the nanometer scale range and design life cycles have decreased to fewer than five years. Until recently, semiconductor device lifetimes could be measured in decades, which was essentially infinite with respect to their required service lives. It was, therefore, not critical to quantify the device lifetimes exactly, or even to understand them completely. For avionics, medical, military, and even telecommunications applications, it was reasonable to assume that all devices would have constant and relatively low failure rates throughout the life of the system; this assumption was built into the design, as well as reliability and safety analysis processes.
Technical Library | 2019-04-11 06:04:49.0
With the development of science and technology, the climatic chamber quality has been improved, and the failure rate is reduced, but there still have the failure probability.today we introduce what are the mian factors for big noise high low temperature test chamber: 1.External factors: the bottom angle is uneven, the ground is uneven, adjust the bottom angle, ensure the equipment is in a horizontal position; 2.The equipment is touched other objects or pushed against the wall,pls remove the objects and keep a certain distance from the wall. 3.Compressor noise:check whether the compressor collides with the pipeline,and evaporator dish is loose or not. 4.Check whether compressor shock absorbers are aging and replace them. 5.Solenoid valve noise: solenoid valve reversing caue loud sound, pls add damping glue, if no effect, need to replace solenoid valve. If there is AC noise, need to replace the power board. 6.Check wether the fan or the fan string shaft make noise,whether the fan blades are touched and deformed, whether the fan is fixed or not, pls adjust accordingly or add the rubber pad. If further technical questions,contact us without hesitation!---Climtest Symor® technical team
Technical Library | 2020-12-10 15:49:40.0
Electronic assemblies should have longer and longer service life. Today there are partially demanded 20 years of functional capability for electronics for automotive application. On the other hand, smaller components, such as resistors of size 0201, are able to endure an increasing number of thermal cycles until fail of solder joints, so these are tested sometimes up to 4000 cycles. But testing until the end of life is essential for the determination of failure rates and the prognosis of reliability. Such tests require a lot of time, but this is often not available in developing of new modules. A further acceleration by higher cycle temperatures is usually not possible, because the materials are already operated at the upper limit of the load. However, the duration can be shortened by the use of liquids for passive tests, which allow faster temperature changes and shorter dwell times because of better heat transfer compared to air. The question is whether such tests lead to comparable results and what failure mechanisms are becoming effective. The same goes for active temperature cycles, in which the components itself are heated from inside and the substrate remains comparatively cold. This paper describes the various accelerated temperature cycling tests, compares and evaluates the related degradation of solder joints.
Technical Library | 2021-07-20 20:12:20.0
Motivation: High reject rates for PCBs due to specification non-conformances Multiple rebuilds causing impactful schedule delays + Copper Wrap + Wicking + Etchback + Annular Ring Are rejected boards reliable? What are PCB quality requirements for? + Reliability: fewer cycles-to-failure? + Manufacturability: define threshold of modern manufacturing capability?
Technical Library | 2017-06-13 17:14:59.0
For tin-rich solder alloys, 200 C (392 F) is an extreme temperature. Intermetallic growth in tin-copper systems is known to occur and is believed to bear a direct relationship to failure mechanisms. This study of morphological changes with time at elevated temperatures was made to determine growth rates of tin-copper intermetallics. Preferred growth directions, rates of thickening, and notable changes in morphology were observed.Each of four tin-base alloys was flowed on copper and exposed to temperatures between 100 C and 200 C for time periods of up to 32 days. Metallographic sections were taken and the intermetallics were examined. Intermetallic layer thickening is characterized by several distinct stages. The initial growth of side plates is extremely rapid and exaggerated. This is followed by retrogression (spheroidization) of the elongated peaks and by general thick-
Technical Library | 2008-04-08 17:42:27.0
Concern about the failure of lead-free BGA packages when portable devices such as cell phones are accidentally dropped and a general concern about the resistance of these packages under shock loading has prompted an interest in the impact strength of the soldered BGA connection. This paper reports the results of the measurement of the impact strength of lead-free 0.5±0.01mm diameter BGA spheres on 0.42mm solder mask defined pads on copper/OSP and ENIG substrates using recently developed equipment that can load individual BGA spheres at high strain rates in shear and tension.
Technical Library | 2014-11-18 23:59:30.0
Performance degradation of packaging material is an important reason for the lifetime reduction of LED. In order to understanding the failure behavior of packaging material, silicone and phosphor were chosen to fabricate LED samples within which an aging test at 125℃ was performed. The result of online luminance measurement showed that LED samples with both silicone and phosphor had the highest luminance decay rate among all test samples because the carbonization of silicone and the consequent outgassing reduced the luminance quickly. The result of the luminance variance with test time was analyzed and an exponential decay model was developed with which the lifetime of LED under high temperature could be estimated.
Technical Library | 2014-10-30 01:48:43.0
The ultimate life of a microelectronics component is often limited by failure of a solder joint due to crack growth through the laminate under a contact pad (cratering), through the intermetallic bond to the pad, or through the solder itself. Whatever the failure mode proper assessments or even relative comparisons of life in service are not possible based on accelerated testing with fixed amplitudes, or random vibration testing, alone. Effects of thermal cycling enhanced precipitate coarsening on the deformation properties can be accounted for by microstructurally adaptive constitutive relations, but separate effects on the rate of recrystallization lead to a break-down in common damage accumulation laws such as Miner's rule. Isothermal cycling of individual solder joints revealed additional effects of amplitude variations on the deformation properties that cannot currently be accounted for directly. We propose a practical modification to Miner's rule for solder failure to circumvent this problem. Testing of individual solder pads, eliminating effects of the solder properties, still showed variations in cycling amplitude to systematically reduce subsequent acceleration factors for solder pad cratering. General trends, anticipated consequences and remaining research needs are discussed
