A study into the sequencing of thermal cycling and vibration tests

During operation, microelectronic packages are subjected to a combination of thermal cycling, power cycling, and dynamic mechanical loading such as shock and vibration. Although microelectronic packages are subjected to a combination of loading conditions, the vast body of existing literature has focused on understanding the reliability of microelectronic packages typically under one loading condition. Assessing solder joint reliability under loading conditions is especially important for harsh environments such as space, automobile, and military applications. The work presented here is directed towards testing and predicting solder joint reliability under multiple loading conditions in a ceramic column grid array (CCGA) electronic package. In this work, the sequence effect on solder joint reliability of a CCGA component under sequential accelerated thermal cycling tests (ATC) and vibration was investigated. A nonlinear cumulative damage model was developed to account for the sequence effect of thermal cycling and vibration loading of a CCGA electronic component. The methodology, developed in this work, is generic in nature and has the potential for application for other electronic packages.