Acceptance testing of BGA ball alloys

The industry has seen the development of a wide range of new Pb-free BGA ball alloys. A significant element of uncertainty regarding these new alloys is the lack of defined data requirements for alloy acceptance. This paper describes recent efforts at Hewlett-Packard to develop Pb-free solder alloy testing requirements. To facilitate the standardization of alloy testing, the required tests are divided into three major areas. (1)Material properties (2)Solder joint reliability (3)Impact to manufacturing processes. This paper presents the approach to assess the risk of using new Pb-free BGA ball alloys on printed circuit assemblies.