Design-for-Reliability applications in concurrent engineering practices for electronic package development from system manufacturers' perspectives

In today's electronic package development cycle, activities are managed by multiple participants in the supply chain which might have different quality and reliability impacts to the end product. As a result, the reliability risk is much higher for companies who do not have insight into and/or control over the products received. Design-for-Reliability (DFR) approaches will come into play to manage the risk. In this article, DFR approaches for package development will be discussed from the perspective of the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). DFR practices through the package development cycle will be described based on key development modules. A case study for FCBGA package development using an advanced Cu/Low-k silicon technology will be presented. Key measures to help control the quality and improve the reliability will be presented. The DFR methodology will be helpful for fabless design houses, electronics manufacturing service (EMS) partners in the supply chain, and OEMs to manage the reliability of the products.