Reliability and wear-out characterization of BGA production sockets

A ball grid array (BGA) test socket plays a key role as a contact interface in final testing of BGA-type package. Its life-time strongly depends on application conditions, contact types, contact materials, contact plating, housing type, housing materials, testing area environment, and setup method. Yield degradation often happens by the increased contact resistance of signal paths, which are caused by the generation of both the particle contamination and the wear-out failures on a BGA socket. Microstructural characterization of wear-out pin was observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM), equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) under service condition. The results obtained in this study made possible on selecting better pogo pin, which can be employed in the IC testing industry.