Measurement of thermally induced die stresses in flip chip on laminate assemblies

Mechanical stress distributions in packaged silicon die that have resulted during assembly or environmental testing can be accurately characterized using test chips incorporating integral piezoresistive sensors. In this paper, measurements of thermally induced stresses in flip chip on laminate assemblies are presented. Transient die stress measurements have been made during underfill cure, and the room temperature die stresses in final cured assemblies have been compared for several different underfill encapsulants. In addition, stress variations have been monitored in the assembled flip chip die as the test boards were subjected to slow temperature changes from -40 to +150°C. Using these measurements and ongoing numerical simulations, valuable insight has been gained on the effects of assembly variables and underfill material properties on the reliability of flip chip packages.