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Mechanical Fatigue Phase II

Idea/Definition Information
Summary: 

This is a follow on to the Phase I Project which showed some promise for using rapid mechanical stressing to predict quality and life of Lead Free solders, but much quicker than conventional thermal cycle.  This project will study the difference of fatigue life in solder joints of leadless packages (QFN packages) between conventional temperature cycle test and mechanical fatigue test.  It will also study the similarities and differences at the same maximum strain in solder joints between mechanical fatigue and bending test.

Background: 

 Shortening of the product development cycle requires a new method that can evaluate the reliability of solder joint in the short time instead of the conventional thermal cycle test.  There are several proposals on the solder joint reliability test using the mechanical fatigue test from universities and an institute. 

Problem: 

 The result of this project phase 1 showed that the solder joint fatigue life by SIT’s mechanical shear fatigue test has a good correlation with conventional temperaturecycling test’s for CSP packages.  Further study will be required for other packages to substitute mechanical  fatigue tests for conventional temperature cycling test.

Approach: 

 The objective of project phase 2 is to study the similarities and differences on fatigue life in solder jointsof leadless packages (e.g. QFN package) between conventional temperaturecycling test and mechanical fatigue tests.