BGA brittle fracture - alternative solder joint integrity test methods

A solder ball shear and pull testing study was conducted on 27 unique package constructions, evaluated under a wide variety of test conditions. The study encompassed the coordinated efforts of 7 electronics manufacturers using early-prototype high speed solder ball shear/pull equipment. Shear speeds ranged from a conventional 0.0001 m/s (100 μm/s) rate up to as high as 4 m/s, while pull testing ranged from speeds of 0.0005 m/s (500 μm/s) to 1.3 m/s. The many package configurations varied in substrate plating type (exposed Cu, electrolytic NiAu and electroless-Ni/immersion-Au), solder composition (SnPb, SnPbAg and SnAgCu), packaging construction and materials, solder and package geometries, package assembly location, and time between reflow and test.