Acoustic emission detection of BGA components in spherical bend

The industry standard process for determining safe assembly bending levels uses destructive failure analysis following destructive stress testing to determine solder joint damage - a time-consuming and expensive process. Modal acoustic emission detection was used to record events during spherical bend tests on boards made from two laminate materials with a BGA component. A sudden increase in the number and magnitude of events was observed at strain levels corresponding to interconnect damage. These results suggest that acoustic emission could be used to detect damage initiation, potentially improving the quality, cost, and speed of this type of test.