Electrolytic Solder Deposit for Next Generation Flip Chip Solder Bumping

2010 ◽  
Vol 2010 (DPC) ◽  
pp. 000671-000707
Author(s):  
Stephen Kenny ◽  
Sven Lamprecht ◽  
Kai Matejat ◽  
Bernd Roelfs

Electrolytic Solder Deposit for Current methods for the formation of pre-solder bumps for flip chip attachment use stencil printing techniques with an appropriate solder paste. The continuing trend towards increasing miniaturisation and the associated decrease in size of solder resist opening, SRO is causing production difficulties with the stencil printing process. Practical experience of production yields has shown that stencil printing will not be able to meet future requirements for solder bump pitch production below 0.15 mm for these applications. This paper describes a novel approach to replace the stencil printing process by use of an electrolytic deposition of solder. In contrast to stencil printing, use of electrolytic deposition techniques allows production of solder bumps with a pitch below 0.15 mm and with a SRO below 80 μm. Methods for production of electrolytic solder bumps based on pure tin as well as alloys of tin/copper and also tin/silver are shown and in particular a method to control the alloy concentration of electroplated tin/copper bumps. Test results with both alloy systems and also pure tin bumping are presented together with comparison of the advantages and disadvantages. The general advantages of replacement of stencil printing by electrolytic deposition of solder bumps are shown and in particular the improvement of bump reliability and the potential to significantly decrease costs by yield improvement.

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 (1) ◽  
pp. 000729-000734
Author(s):  
Stephen Kenny ◽  
Kai Matejat ◽  
Sven Lamprecht ◽  
Olivier Mann

Current methods for the formation of pre-solder bumps for flip chip attachment use stencil printing techniques with an appropriate alloy solder paste. The continuing trend towards increased miniaturization and the associated decrease in size of solder resist opening, SRO is causing production difficulties with the stencil printing process. Practical experience of production yields has shown that stencil printing will not be able to meet future requirements for solder bump pitch production below 150μm for these applications. This paper describes latest developments in the electrolytic deposition of solder to replace the stencil printing process; results from production of 90μm bump pitch solder arrays with tin/copper alloy are given. The solder bump is produced with a specially developed electrolytic tin process which fills a photo resist defined structure on the SRO. The photoresist dimensions determine the volume of solder produced and the subsequent bump height after reflow. Investigations on the bump reliability after reflow are shown including copper alloy concentration at 0.7% and x-ray investigation to confirm uniform metal deposition. The self centering mechanism found in the bump production process during reflow is presented and the capability to correct photoresist registration issues. The solder bumps are shown as deposited onto an electroless nickel/gold or electroless nickel/palladium/gold final finish which serves also as a barrier layer to copper diffusion into the solder bump. Discussion of further development work in the production of alloys of tin/copper together with silver are given with first test results.


1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianbiao Pan ◽  
Gregory L. Tonkay

Abstract Stencil printing has been the dominant method of solder deposition in surface mount assembly. With the development of advanced packaging technologies such as ball grid array (BGA) and flip chip on board (FCOB), stencil printing will continue to play an important role. However, the stencil printing process is not completely understood because 52–71 percent of fine and ultra-fine pitch surface mount assembly defects are printing process related (Clouthier, 1999). This paper proposes an analytical model of the solder paste deposition process during stencil printing. The model derives the relationship between the transfer ratio and the area ratio. The area ratio is recommended as a main indicator for determining the maximum stencil thickness. This model explains two experimental phenomena. One is that increasing stencil thickness does not necessarily lead to thicker deposits. The other is that perpendicular apertures print thicker than parallel apertures.


2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 164-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong‐Won Lee ◽  
Keun‐Soo Kim ◽  
Katsuaki Suganuma

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study the effect of the electropolishing time of stencil manufacturing parameters and solder‐mask definition methods of PCB pad design parameters on the performance of solder paste stencil printing process for the assembly of 01005 chip components.Design/methodology/approachDuring the study, two types of stencils were manufactured for the evaluations: electroformed stencils and electropolished laser‐cut stencils. The electroformed stencils were manufactured using the standard electroforming process and their use in the paste printing process was compared against the use of an electropolished laser‐cut stencil. The electropolishing performance of the laser‐cut stencil was evaluated twice at the following intervals: 100 s and 200 s. The performance of the laser‐cut stencil was also evaluated without electropolishing. An optimized process was established after the polished stencil apertures of the laser‐cut stencil were inspected. The performance evaluations were made by visually inspecting the quality of the post‐surface finishing for the aperture wall and the quality of that post‐surface finishing was further checked using a scanning electron microscope. A test board was used in a series of designed experiments to evaluate the solder paste printing process.FindingsThe results demonstrated that the length of the electropolishing time had a significant effect on the small stencil's aperture quality and the solder paste's stencil printing performance. In this study, the most effective electropolishing time was 100 s for a stencil thickness of 0.08 mm. The deposited solder paste thickness was significantly better for the enhanced laser‐cut stencil with electropolishing compared to the conventional electroformed stencils. In this printing‐focused work, print paste thickness measurements were also found to vary across different solder‐mask definition methods of printed circuit board pad designs with no change in the size of the stencil aperture. The highest paste value transfer consistently occurred with solder‐mask‐defined pads, when an electropolished laser‐cut stencil was used.Originality/valueDue to important improvements in the quality of the electropolished laser‐cut stencil, and based on the results of this experiment, the electropolished laser‐cut stencil is strongly recommended for the solder paste printing of fine‐pitch and miniature components, especially in comparison to the typical laser‐cut stencil. The advantages of implementing a 01005 chip component mass production assembly process include excellent solder paste release, increased solder volume, good manufacture‐ability, fast turnaround time, and greater cost saving opportunities.


Author(s):  
Bryan Christian S. Bacquian ◽  
Frederick Ray I. Gomez ◽  
Edwin M. Graycochea Jr.

One of the challenging assembly processes in semiconductor manufacturing industry is stencil printing using solder paste as direct material. With this technology, some issues were encountered during the development phase of an advanced leadframe device and one of which is the solder ball misplace or off-centered ball. This paper, hence, focused on addressing the ball misplace issue at stencil printing process. Comprehensive parameter optimization particularly on the print speed and print force was employed to eliminate or significantly reduce the ball misplace defect at stencil printing process. With this process optimization and improvement, a reduction of around 96 percent ball misplace occurrence was achieved.


2019 ◽  
Vol 102 (9-12) ◽  
pp. 3369-3379 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. S. Rusdi ◽  
M. Z. Abdullah ◽  
S. Chellvarajoo ◽  
M. S. Abdul Aziz ◽  
M. K. Abdullah ◽  
...  

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 (1) ◽  
pp. 000953-000960 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Oppert ◽  
Rainer Dohle ◽  
Jörg Franke ◽  
Stefan Härter

The most important technology driver in the electronics industry is miniaturization mainly driven by size reduction on wafer level and cost. One of the interconnection technologies for fine pitch applications with the potential for highest integration and cost savings is Flip Chip technology. The commonly used method of generating fine pitch solder bumps is by electroplating the solder. This process is difficult to control or even impossible if it comes to ternary or quaternary alloys. The work described in this study addresses the limitations of existing bumping technologies by enabling low-cost, fine pitch bumping and the use of a very large variety of solder alloys. This flexibility in the selection of the solder materials and UBM stacks is a large advantage if it is essential to improve temperature cycling resistance, drop test resistance, or to increase electromigration lifetime. The technology allows rapid changeover between different low melting solder alloys. Tighter bump pitches and a better bump quality (no flux entrapment) are achievable than with screen printing of solder paste. Because no solder material is wasted, the material costs for precious metal alloys like Au80Sn20 are much lower than with other bumping processes. Solder bumps with a diameter between to date 30 μm and 500 μm as well as small and large batches can be manufactured with one cost efficient process. To explore this potential, cost-efficient solder bumping and automated assembly technologies for the processing of Flip Chips have been developed and qualified. Flip Chips used in this study are 10 mm by 10 mm in size, have a pitch of 100 μm and a solder ball diameter of 30 μm, 40 μm or 50μm, respectively. Wafer level solder application has been done using wafer level solder sphere transfer process or solder sphere jetting technology, respectively. The latter tool has been used for many years in the wafer level packaging industry for both Flip Chip and chip scale packaging applications. It is commonly known in the industry as a solder ball bumping equipment. For the described work the process was scaled down for processing solder spheres with a diameter of 30 μm what was never done before that way worldwide. The research has shown that the underfill process is one of the most crucial factors when it comes to Flip Chip miniaturization for high reliability applications. Therefore, high performance underfill material was qualified initially [1]. Final long term reliability testing has been done according to MIL-STD883G, method 1010.8, condition B up to thirteen thousand cycles with excellent performance of the highly miniaturized solder joints. SEM/EDX and other analysis techniques will be presented. Additionally, an analysis of the failure mechanism will be given and recommendations for key applications and further miniaturization will be outlined.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 (1) ◽  
pp. 000667-000674
Author(s):  
Mark Whitmore ◽  
Jeff Schake

Abstract With the continual shrinking of electronic assembly form factors, designers are being forced towards smaller, more complex components with decreasing interconnection pitches. As a consequence, the Surface Mount assembly process is becoming increasingly challenged. For the stencil printing process, this means that historically accepted stencil aperture area ratio design rules, (which dictate what can or cannot be printed), need to be significantly pushed to extend the printing process for next generation ultra -fine pitch components. As a result, a major study has been undertaken looking at several different aspects of the stencil printing process, and their impact upon the assembly and reliability of 0.3mm pitch CSP components. In a preliminary test, stencil printing factors such as stencil aperture size and printing technology (standard squeegees vs ultrasonically aided active squeegees) were investigated. Data showed that the active squeegees provided a significantly larger process window. Subsequently, components were assembled using a range of solder paste volumes printed with both standard and active squeegee technology. The components assembled using an active squeegee process exhibited higher assembly yield, and also extended reliability when subjected to thermal cycling.


2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 (1) ◽  
pp. 000502-000508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Whitmore ◽  
Clive Ashmore

As electronics assemblies continue to shrink in form factor, forcing designers towards smaller components with decreasing pitches, the Surface Mount assembly process is becoming increasingly challenged. A new “active” squeegee printing process has been developed to assist in the stencil printing of solder pastes for next generation ultra fine pitch components such as 0.3mm pitch CSP’s. Results indicate that today’s accepted stencil area ratio rules, which govern solder paste transfer efficiency can be significantly pushed to extend stencil printing process capabilities to stencil apertures having area ratios as low as 0.4. Such a breakthrough will allow the printing of ultra fine pitch components and additionally will assist with heterogeneous assembly concerns, to satisfy up and coming mixed technology demands.


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