Creep response of various solders used in soldering ball grid array (BGA) on printed circuit board (PCB)

In electronics packaging, solder joints play a critical role by providing electrical, thermal and mechanical connections between the package and the printed circuit board (PCB). As the joint is both miniature and brittle, it is the weakest part of the assembly and thus susceptible to untimely damage. This paper presents the creep response of solder joints in a ball grid array (BGA) soldered on a PCB subjected to isothermal ageing in one experiment and temperature cycling in another test. The ageing is simulated in an ANSYS package environment at -40, 25, 75 and 150℃ temperatures applied for 45 days. The thermal cycling profile started from 22℃ and cycled between -40℃ and 150℃ with 15 minutes dwell time at the lowest and highest temperatures. The solders used in the investigation are lead-based eutectic solder alloy and lead-free SAC305, SAC387, and SAC396 solders. The research seeks to qualify these solders against strain and strain energy response for improved reliability in operation. The results show that the lead-free SAC387 accumulated the maximum strain and thus strain energy while the lead-based eutectic solder is found to accrue the least amount of the quantities. Further results show the distribution of damage in the BGA solder bump. Based on the results, it is proposed that lead-free SAC396 is the best replacement of the lead-based eutectic solder in the drive for the achievement of comparable thermo-mechanical reliability of assembled BGA on PCB.