Thermal cycling lifetime of flip chip on board circuits with solder bumps and isotropically conductive adhesive joints

Flip chip on board (FCOB) circuits with solder bumps or isotropically conductive adhesives (ICA) may be subject to joint failure during thermal cycling. Although use of epoxy underfill can increase the lifetime significantly, there is still a risk of failure if the material properties of the underfill material are not adequate to prevent excessive values of stress and strain in the joints. This paper presents experimental measurements of the number of thermal cycles to failure for both solder reflow and ICA joint FCOB circuits. Measurements have been carried out for several different material systems with various types of underfill. The measurements of solder bump lifetime are compared to a lifetime model based on analytical calculations of solder strain. For an underfill type without filler (CTE=58 ppm/°C), the measurements are in excellent agreement with the model predictions, both giving an average lifetime of around 1500 thermal cycles between -55 and 125°C. For two filled types of underfill with CTE nearly matched to that of solder, the measured average lifetimes vary from around 2700 to 5500 cycles. The corresponding model predictions are around 6000 and 7000 cycles, respectively. Measurements of the lifetime of FCOB´s with ICA connections have been carried out for two different material systems. The obtained lifetimes vary between approximately 500 and 4000 cycles. No systematic lifetime variation with the thermal expansion of the underfill has been observed, but the lifetime seems to be dependent on the properties of the bump on the chip pad. Delamination, for instance at the ICA/bump interface, is found to be an important cause of failure.