Underfilling fine pitch BGAs

Fine pitch BGAs and chip scale packages have been developed as an alternative to direct flip chip attachment for high-density electronics. The larger solder sphere diameter and higher standoff of CSPs and fine pitch BGAs improve thermal cycle reliability while the larger pitch relaxes wiring congestion on the printed wiring board. Fine pitch BGAs and CSPs also allow rework to replace defective devices. Thermal cycle reliability has been shown to meet many consumer application requirements. However, fine pitch BGAs and CSPs have difficulty passing mechanical shock and substrate flexing tests for portable electronics applications. The fine pitch BGA used in the study was a 10 mm package with the die wire bonded. The package substrate was bismaleimide-triazine (BT) and the solder sphere diameter was 0.56 mm. Two types of underfill were examined. The first was a fast flow, snap cure underfill. This material rapidly flows under the package and can be cured in five minutes at 165°C using an in-line convection oven. The second underfill was a thermally reworkable underfill for those applications requiring device removal and replacement. The paper discusses the assembly and rework process. In addition, liquid-to-liquid thermal shock data is presented along with mechanical shock and flexing test results