Power Semiconductor Devices and Packages: Solder Mechanical Characterization and Lifetime Prediction

Abstract

Solder reliability is a key aspect for the packaging of low voltage power semiconductor device. The interconnections among package components, e.g. the silicon chip and copper leadframe, and between package itself and the external printed control board (PCB) should be properly designed to ensure the automotive durability requirements. In this framework, the proposed paper introduces an experimentalnumeric characterization flow with the purpose to analyze solder visco-plasticity and fatigue during passive temperature cycle. The presented methodology has included solder mechanical characterization aimed to determine the parameters of Anand model which reproduces the solder visco-plastic behavior and the mechanical properties' temperature dependency. Finite element model has been employed to calculate the inelastic work which solder dissipates during each temperature cycle. Simulation results serve as input to predict solder lifetime according to an energetic method. Moreover, failure analyses have been performed to assess the failure mechanism and to check model correlation in terms of number of cycles to failure forecast.

Synthesis of adhesion promoter for lead frame bonding and application of epoxy composite materials

“…[5][6][7] The lead frame is a major component that supports the semiconductor chip while electrically connecting it to the external PCB board within the package. 8 The metal for the lead frame is generally a copper alloy with excellent thermal and electrical conduction capabilities. The main reasons for choosing a copper alloy are that it has the advantages of adhesion to the epoxy matrix, excellent electrical conductivity, and reasonable price, but it has the problem of being easily oxidized at room temperature.…”

“…The lead frame is a major component that supports the semiconductor chip while electrically connecting it to the external PCB board within the package 8 . The metal for the lead frame is generally a copper alloy with excellent thermal and electrical conduction capabilities.…”

Sn99Ag0.3Cu0.7–TiO2 composite solder joints and their influence on thermal parameters of power components

“…Therefore, the quality of the solder joint has a significant impact on the reliable operation of the final device. Currently, numerous research papers are focused on enhancing the assembly of power devices (Calabretta et al. , 2021; Pietruszka et al.…”

“…Therefore, the quality of the solder joint has a significant impact on the reliable operation of the final device. Currently, numerous research papers are focused on enhancing the assembly of power devices (Calabretta et al, 2021;Pietruszka et al, 2021) for better heat management. Using composite solder joints is emerging as a promising approach for effective thermal management in power devices (El-Daly et al, 2013;Skwarek et al, 2022;Pietruszka et al, 2023).…”

Warpage Behavior on Silicon Semiconductor Device: The Impact of Thick Copper Metallization

“…Wafer warpage caused by thick Cu layer is mostly due to plastic deformation during the annealing [13], which is a thermal process aimed to make softer Cu material, increasing and then stabilizing the Cu grains dimension. Stabilizing metal grain size, annealing permits to avoid electromigration issues in interconnect reliability, e.g., during reliability application related test [14][15][16][17] or passive thermal cycles [18,19]. It seems to miss in literature a detailed experimental warpage analysis for thick Cu layer: available data refer about maximum 5 µm thick Cu metal [3,20].…”