Non-destructive in-situ monitoring of delamination of buried interfaces by a thermal pixel (Thixel) chip

We have developed a novel, rapid, robust and nondestructive experimental technique for in-situ monitoring of delamination of interfaces for electronic packages. The method is based on a simple thermal transducer matrix of so-called THIXELS (thermal pixels) which allows a spatially resolved real-time image of the current status of delamination. The transducers are small metal wire meanders which are driven and electrically read out using the well-known 3-omega method. This method has special advantages over other thermal contrast methods with respect to robustness, sensitivity and signal-to-noise ratio. Notable is the absence of cross-effects. The proof of concept has been furnished on an industry-grade flip-chip package with underfill on an organic substrate. The technique is especially powerful for buried interfaces, where time-honoured methods like scanning acoustic microscopy (SAM) cannot be applied. As the technique effectively performs a thermal diffusivity sensitive scan, it may not only be useful for stress testing during package qualification, but sensor applications on other fields of health monitoring seem also possible.