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The vibration reliability of lead-free solder joints of Package-on-Package (PoP) is investigated by experimental tests and finite element method (FEM) simulations in this paper. A 14 × 14 mm two-tier PoP module was selected for this study. The natural frequencies and modes were determined by FEM and verified by experimental tests. The printed circuit board (PCB) assemblies are tested under harmonic vibration. Vibration test results show that the vibration reliability of top package is better than the bottom package, and the outermost corner solder joints of the bottom package are the critical solder joints for the PoP under vibration loading. The stress characteristics of solder joints obtained by FEM are well correlated with the experimental results. Failure mechanism analysis indicates that the bottom solder joints become the most vulnerable part of the PoP under vibration due to the bigger relative displacements between the PCB and the bottom package. The micro-structural analysis indicates that cracks usually originate in the bottleneck position of the solder balls, extend within bulk solder and then propagate along the interface between the IMC layer and the bulk solder. The influence of bottom solder joints standoff for vibration reliability was analyzed by FEM as well. Results show that the higher the bottom solder joints' standoff, the more difficult the failure for the PoP assembly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the Taguchi method and finite-element analysis (FEA) were used to improve the vibration reliability of the package-on-package (PoP) assembly and to achieve an optimal design of the PoP under random vibration loading. A finite-element model of the PoP assembly was developed, and experimental modal tests were performed to verify the finite-element model. Four geometry parameters of the PoP were chosen as the variable factors, including body size of PoP, bottom solder joint standoffs, thickness of bottom substrate, and top solder joint standoffs. The volume averaged von Mises stress of the critical solder joint obtained by FEA was chosen as the quality factor, and an L9 ( 3^4) orthogonal array was applied for Taguchi experiment to estimate the effects of the four factors and find the optimal design of the PoP on the vibration reliability. It is found that bottom solder joint standoffs have an important effect on the reliability, and more than 36% of the volume averaged Von Mises stress could be reduced by the optimal design. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a general methodology to predict the fatigue life of the Package-on-Package (PoP) under random vibration loading by means of vibration tests and finite element (FE) simulation. The behavior of the critical solder joints of the PoP under vibration loading was accurately described by FE model using ANSYS software and confirmed by modal analysis and linear sweep tests. The stress-life (S-N) curve of the PoP solder joints was obtained by the sinusoidal fatigue vibration tests and FE simulations to characterize the fatigue properties of the PoP under vibration. The comparison of the S-N curves of the SAC305 solder joints in different structures indicates the S-N curve of the SAC305 solder joints depends on the package structure. With the same fatigue cycles, the stress levels for the current 3D package is the smallest compared with the other 2D package due to the stacked structure of the PoP. Spectrum analysis for the random vibration tests was performed by the FE simulations to acquire the stress response power spectral density (PSD) of the critical solder joint. A specific frequency domain approach based on the Palmgren-Miner's rule was established to predict the fatigue life of the PoP under random vibration. Results show that simulated fatigue life matches well with the random vibration test results, which implies that this approach could be a potential method for the predication of fatigue life of the 3D packaging under random vibration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]