With the increased complexity of microelectronic devices continuing to drive chip packages to smaller sizes, the need for reliable high-density flip chip packaging is increasingly important. In these packages, epoxy underfills are used to surround a solder ball grid array in order to support thermomechanical stresses in the system. This research focuses on determining the mechanisms that cause debonding at interfaces in these packages, particularly between the underfill and chip passivation. A fracture mechanics approach is used to study the adhesion of Si3N4 to two model underfills, one based on aliphatic epoxy and the other based on bisphenol F epoxy. Interestingly, these two underfills, which are similar mechanically, appear to show very different critical and subcritical behavior. The aliphatic underfill exhibits subcritical debond growth under constant displacements, behavior typically seen in interface systems, while the bisphenol F underfill surprisingly shows little susceptibility to stress corrosion. Although both underfills show evidence of silica bead settling, the addition of filler has opposing effects on their critical adhesion values. The effects of varying filler content in these underfills as well as environmental effects on the critical and subcritical behavior of these systems will be examined.

Packaging of MEMS devices introduces new challenges to the package architecture. MEMS systems include interfaces, processes, and materials foreign to the IC packaging industry. To build reliable MEMS systems, failure modes must be identified and understood. In addition, measurement techniques must be developed to interrogate critical aspects of the package.

The present work addresses the architecture of the carrier-level packaging for a MEMS-based Safety and Arming device (S&A). The impact of moisture on packaged MEMS systems and test structures are investigated through an environmental conditioning program that includes thermal cycling and accelerated aging. MEMS switches are packaged in hermetic, non-hermetic, and ventilated configurations to facilitate in-situ monitoring of device health. A MEMS humidity sensor is included in these packages to allow interrogation of package environment characteristics.

Mechanical MEMS test structures are put through the same environmental conditions as the MEMS switches. These structures provide additional data on the failure modes of the packaged switches. Push test structures provide cumulative data on friction, stiction, and material properties and dog bone structures isolate material property influences.

!Dielectric constant and morphology of BaTiO3-polymer composite films were studied as a function of the filler concentration. The morphology of the films was examined using laser scanning confocal microscopy, which is capable to measure small particle distributions in more details than conventional microscopy. The thin-slice images allowed us to visualize the micron-size particles and the polymer between them nondestructively. We have found that, although BaTiO3 particles appear to form clusters at low filler concentrations, the cluster formation does not affect the dielectric constant of the composites.

Over recent years there has been a growing interest in the removal or substitution of Lead, Bromine and other hazardous chemicals from electronic and electrical equipment. This relates primarily to products whose end of life disposal relies on the use of landfill sites or increasingly on recycling. The driving force for these changes come from both legislation such as that proposed by the European Union [1] and also from consumer awareness. The implications of the move towards more environmentally friendly electronics extend right down the level of discrete component packages including those produced in large numbers by the power semiconductor industry. In the present paper the technical challenges associated with the development of a lead and bromine free medium power packaging are discussed and the results of ongoing investigations are presented. The major challenges in this area relate not only to the substitution of key elements but also to ensuring compatibility with the higher reflow temperatures which may be associated with Pb-free surface mount processing. This raises particular issues with respect to the die attach material, which is often a high Pb soft solder; the encapsulation compounds which tend to rely on Bromine and Antimony compounds for their flame retardant properties; and the device plating which must be compatible with Pb-free board attach solders.

Power electronics modules consist of several layers of different materials according to their function. A base plate is necessary for mounting the module to the cooling unit, an insulating layer provides protection against high voltages, the power semiconductor chips with metal electrodes on both sides are used for switching currents, and finally passivation layers have to protect the chips against high electric fields and environmental impacts. The combination of semiconductors, metals and insulators and their different coefficients of thermal expansion leads to stresses and fatigue during temperature excursions. Some major trends require the use of new materials and joinings: higher voltages (up to 6.5 kV), higher currents (above 2000 A), and higher operating temperatures, e.g. in automotive applications (up to 200°C). To reduce the influence of the thermal mismatch between the base plate and the insulator (Alumina, AlN), metal matrix composites such as AlSiC have been used for several years in power modules. To minimize the partial discharge of the ceramics substrate, an amorphous coating (a-Si:H) was tested at high voltages up to 15 kV. A low-temperature joining technique based on silver powder processed under high pressure and at low temperatures works well at higher temperatures. Finally a concept for securing reliability is discussed.

A reliable interconnection of electrodes to the flexible polymer substrate with anisotropic conductive film (ACF) of which the conductive particles were similar in elasticity to the substrates was accomplished. The contact resistance value was maintained even while the junction was stressed under sudden changes in temperature and pressure. We found that the conduction failure is caused by the action of a complex mechanism on the changes of a joint structure. The major driving factor seems likely to be defects in the transparent electrodes due to the thermal strain of the substrate and penetration of conductive particles into the substrate. The materials of substrate and conductive particle are polycarbonate (PC) with a gas barrier layer and poly-divinylbenzene (DVB) whose hardness is similar to that of the polymer substrate, respectively. In this paper, several experiments were performed with an emphasis on the properties of polymer substrates. Furthermore, the electrical and mechanical performance of the joint structure was studied by evaluating contact resistance and scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations. Moreover, for the experiments, we fabricated test IC with Au bumps through photolithography and electro-plating process. Conductive particle with elasticity similar to that of the polymer substrates did little damage to the transparent electrodes on the substrates, and low temperature and pressure under a stepped process did not bring about their deformation either. Consequently, we adopted the results on the fabrication of plastic based flat panel display module and thus could obtain a highly reliable interconnect with a low contact resistance ( 20-25ω ).

The interfacial fracture energies of flexible Cu/Cr/Polyimide system were deduced from the T peel test. The T peel strength and peel angle were strongly affected by the metal thickness and the biased rf plasma power density of the polyimide pretreatment. The plastic bending works of metal and polyimide dissipated during peel test were estimated from the direct measurement of maximum root curvatures using the elastoplastic beam analysis. The interfacial fracture energy between Cr and polyimide increased with the rf plasma power density and saturated, but was pretty much independent of the metal film thickness and the peel angle.

This is part I of a two-part paper on the mechanical behavior of lead-free solders. The constitutive properties of Sn3.9Ag0.6Cu lead-free alloy are presented and compared against baseline data from eutectic Sn63Pb37 solder. Monotonic, displacement-controlled and load-controlled tests are performed over various temperatures, strain rates and stresses using the thermo-mechanical-microstructural (TMM) test system. It is shown that the lead-free alloy exhibits creep strain rates that are from one to five orders of magnitude lower than the eutectic SnPb alloy, depending on the stress level and the homologous temperature.

The mechanical properties of the 1-9 vol % Cu and Cu6Sn5-dispersed 63Sn-37Pb solder alloys were characterized with tensile test. Also, the Cu and Cu6Sn5-dispersed 63Sn-37Pb solder bumps of 760 μm size were fabricated on the Au(5 μm)/Ni(5 μm)/Cu(27 μm) BGA substrates by screen printing process, and their shear strength were characterized with variations of the dwell time at the reflow peak temperature(220°C) and aging time at 150°C. The yield strength and ultimate tensile strength of the 63Sn-37Pb solder alloy increased with dispersion of 1-9 vol % Cu and Cu6Sn5. In general, however, the Cu and Cu6Sn5-dispersed solder bumps exhibited lower shear strengths than those of the 63Sn-37Pb solder bumps The failure surface of the solder bumps after ball shear test could be divided into two regions of slow crack propagation and critical crack propagation, and the shear strength of solder bumps was inversely proportional to the slow crack propagation length.

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory is developing packaging for a sensor platform to be embedded in the harsh environment of concrete structures. The sensors will monitor the corrosive environment of the structure over periods of several decades to aid in scheduling maintenance and repair.

The United States has recognized the risks associated with its aging infrastructure and is actively replacing deteriorated/high risk structures as well as simultaneously developing the tools and techniques to monitor new infrastructure as it ages. JHU/APL has reviewed the sensing requirements for infrastructure monitoring, especially bridge decks, and developed a concept based on distributed, embedded sensors. The Wireless, Embedded Sensor Platform (WESP) will implement the concept of a low-cost, customizable sensor platform suitable for long-term field measurements. The WESP is designed to be powered and queried remotely as often as required and can be used to measure the evolution of the corrosive environment over time.

The objective of this research and development is to design, implement, and demonstrate packaging techniques for embedded sensor suites commensurate with a 50-year lifetime when embedded in concrete having a pH greater than 13, and exposed to harsh environments of salt, and mechanical and thermal stress. To meet this objective, the WESP construction will use a commercial ceramic IC package and unique manufacturing and assembly techniques.

The prototype is expected to provide sensor identification, temperature, pressure, and conductivity data within a package volume less than 2.5 cm3 (0.15 in3). Reliability test results will be reviewed and specialized tests will be performed to evaluate the performance of the packaging design. These include such tests as freeze/thaw cycling, thermal shock, thermal cycling, Highly Accelerated Stress Test (HAST), 85% relative humidity/85°C, and accelerated life testing. Future developments are expected to reduce size and implement additional sensor types to fully characterize the concrete environment.

The development of electrical conductivity in silver (Ag)-filled conductive polymer adhesives is dependent on the thermal profile of the curing process. Previous studies of polymer adhesive systems have shown that chemical reactions at the interface of the micronsized Ag filler are a key factor in determining the subsequent performance of the conductive system. In an attempt to correlate the behavior of electrical conductivity with the chemical nature of the Ag particle interface, we have simultaneously performed electrical resistivity and surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) measurements on a commercial conductive adhesive. At room temperature in the low conductance state (∼10−9 ohms−1), the SERS spectrum from the uncured adhesive exhibited peaks that were identified with a molecular species bound to Ag surface via the carboxylate functionality of the adsorbate. During the thermal cure processing, the SERS data showed a partial decomposition of the carboxylate species and the formation of an amorphous carbon layer at the Ag surface. A comparison of the simultaneously recorded electrical resistance and SERS data showed a strong correlation between the development of high conductance (∼ 1 ohm−1) in the adhesive and the formation of the amorphous carbon layer.

In order to establish a material system for packaging 500°C SiC microsystems, aluminum nitride (AlN) and aluminum oxide (Al2O3) were selected as packaging substrates, and gold (Au) thick-film materials were selected as substrate metallization material for electrical interconnection system (thick-film printed wires and thick-film metallization based wire-bond) and conductive die-attach interlayer. During a 1500-hour test in atmospheric oxygen with and without electrical bias, the electrical resistance of Au thick-film based interconnection system demonstrated low and stable electrical resistance at 500°C. The electrical interconnection system was also tested in extreme dynamic thermal environment. A silicon carbide (SiC) Schottky diode was attached to ceramic substrate using Au thick-film material as the conductive bonding layer and was successfully tested at 500°C in air for more than 1000 hours. In addition to the electrical test of die-attach in static thermal environments, nonlinear finite element analysis (FEA) was used for thermal mechanical evaluation and optimization of the die-attach in a wide temperature range.

We studied the influence of hydrothermal aging on the dielectric properties of epoxy molding compounds used for integrated circuits packaging. Samples were subjected to two different aging (JEDEC 1 and JEDEC 3 procedures, followed by a thermal stress at 240°C for a few minutes). Resistance to aging was studied as a function of crosslinking density. Water uptake increases with crosslinking. Aging leads to a reduction in the dielectric constant and to an increase in the loss factor. Post-mold curing is found to slightly enhance the resistance against hydrothermal aging.

Solder based flip-chip packaging has prompted interest in many integrated circuit (IC)packaging applications due to its many advantages in terms of cost, package size, electricalperformance, input/output density, etc. The ball grid array (BGA) is one of the most commonflip-chip packaging techniques used for microprocessor applications. However, mechanicalstresses induced by the flip-chip process can impact adversely on the reliability of production.

White beam synchrotron x-ray topography (SXRT), a non-destructive technique, has beenemployed to investigate the spatial extent of strain fields imposed on the underlying siliconsubstrate for Intelν®Pentiumν®III microprocessors due to the lead-tin solder bump process for BGApackaging. Large area and section back-reflection SXRT images were taken before and after asimulation of the reflow process at 350°C in atmosphere. The presence of induced strain fields inthe Si substrate due to the overlying bump structures has been observed via the extinction contrasteffect in these x-ray topographs. In addition, orientational contrast effects have also been foundafter the reflow process due to the severe stresses in the underlying silicon beneath the lead bumps.The estimated magnitudes of stress, ∣σ∣, imposed on the underlying silicon were calculated to be100 MPa. The spatial strains in the underlying silicon were relieved dramatically after the leadbumps were removed from the wafer, which confirms that the bumps are indeed a major source ofstrain in the underlying Si. Finite element analysis (FEA) has also been performed in 2-D planestrain mode. The magnitudes and spatial distribution of the stresses after the reflow process are ingood agreement with the SXRT results.

This paper describes a wireless-bond interconnect technique, termed Dimple-Array Interconnect (DAI) technique for packaging power devices. Electrical connections onto the devices are established by soldering arrays of dimples pre-formed on a metal sheet. Preliminary experimental and analytical results demonstrated potential advantages of this technique such as reduced parasitic noises, improved heat dissipation, as well as lowered processing complexity, compared to the conventional wire bonding technology in power module manufacturing. Thermomechanical analysis using thermal cycling test and FEM were also performed to evaluate the reliability characteristics of this interconnect technique for power devices.

The influence of aging in an environment with a high temperature and a high humidity on the adhesion performance of underfill material (epoxy cured with acid anhydride) to the passivation layer in flip chip packaging is discussed. Adhesion of underfill to different passivation materials degrades after aging in a high temperature and high humidity environment. The extent of this degradation is dependent on the hydrophilicity of the passivation material. Hydrophilic passivation such as silicon oxide (SiO2) and silicon nitride (Si3N4) shows much more severe adhesion degradation than hydrophobic passivation such as benzocyclobutene (BCB) and polyimide (PI). The mobility of absorbed water and of polymer chains is studied with solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Higher mobility of absorbed water and of polymer chains in rubbery state polymers contributes to faster adhesion degradation during high temperature and high humidity aging. The adhesion stability of hydrophilic passivation can be successfully improved by use of a silane coupling agent that introduces stable chemical bond at interface. A flow micro-calorimeter was used to study the absorption of silane coupling agent onto glass surface. The difference in adhesion retention improvement between aminosilane and epoxysilane is discussed.

Silane adhesion promoters are seeing increasing use in microelectronic packaging applications. For example, they are currently used to adhere the passivating polymer overlayer to oxide. In this paper, we present detailed studies of silane adhesion promoters on the silicon oxide surface. Two common promoters (aminopropyltriethoxysilane and vinyltriethoxysilane) as well as non-functional silanes are investigated. It was found that without a functional end group, long carbon chain silanes can severely degrade adhesion, resulting in interfaces weaker than if no silane is used. Several spin coat solution formulations are used in depositing these films. The resulting surface coverage is examined and quantified using XPS, and the adhesion behavior of various promoter films is tested in sandwich structures using a fracture mechanics approach. Finally, spin-coat solution concentration, surface coverage, and interface fracture energy are compared for the amine functional promoter.

MEMS devices may experience significant alternating loads during service, associated with both applied and vibrational loading. Long-term reliability and lifetime predictions require understanding of possible fatigue mechanisms in these structures. Although silicon is not generally considered susceptible to fatigue crack growth, recent studies suggest that there may be fatigue processes in silicon MEMS structures. The phenomenon, however, has still not been extensively studied. In this work, we used a compressive double cantilever beam geometry to examine stable crack growth. Crack length and loads were carefully monitored throughout the test in order to distinguish between the apparent role of environmentally assisted crack growth (stress corrosion) and mechanically induced fatigue. Results revealed similar step-like crack extension versus time for the cyclic and monotonic tests. The fatigue crack-growth curve extracted from the crack extension data exhibited a nearly vertical slope with no evidence of fatigue crack-growth. Fracture surfaces for the monotonic and cyclic tests were similar, further suggesting that a true mechanical fatigue crack-growth mechanism did not occur.

In this work we discuss the usefulness of the Surface Potential Decay (SPD) method to investigate electrostatic charges deposited on epoxy resins which are used for electronic packaging. Corona discharges were applied on epoxy resins with different degrees of Post Mold Curing (PMC). SPD studies were conducted at room temperature under a relative humidity of about 45%. In the first part of this study we analyze the flow of electrostatic charges as a function of time. Using the SPD method we evidence that 10% of the electrical charge is still present at the surface three hours after the corona discharge has been applied. We find that the surface potential decay is more important for samples with longer PMC duration. In the second part of this work we provide a physical interpretation of the surface charge decay. We suggest that it is related to polarization mechanisms within the bulk of the material.

Next generation microelectronic packaging requirements are driving the need to produce increasingly lower dielectric constant materials while maintaining high thermal stability and ease of processing. Polymer candidates with exceptionally low dielectric constant (2.0-2.4), high thermal stability (degradation temperature higher than 400°C), high glass transition temperature (greater than 350°C), low water uptake (less than one percent), solubility in selected organic solvents, and low thermal expansion are all required. We have successfully synthesized and characterized several candidate polymers in an effort to address these needs.