The progressive miniaturization of solder joints in electronic devices has been a continuous trend for recent years. Solder joints on Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) have been steadily decreasing, to enable higher interconnect density and increased functionality within a single device. More recently, the adoption of heterogeneous integration and chiplet-based packaging has driven solder joint dimensions even smaller, –into the sub-100 µm range. Electrical current loads on these connections however have not been reduced at the same rate, as the sizes. Due to this, the electrical current densities within the solder joints have increased. The increase of the electrothermal load on the components from the high current densities could promote electromigration behaviour. During electromigration solder joints can sustain damage through multiple mechanisms. The interfacial Intermetallic Compounds (IMCs) could thicken, voids could form, and Cu pad dissolution can be observed. These effects could significantly reduce the reliability of the solder joints by reducing the mechanical strength of the joint. This review aims to explore and summarize the existing literature on electromigration and its associated effects, addressing a gap in the currently available studies. It provides a general overview of electromigration behaviour, outlines the atomic fluxes involved in the process, and examines electromigration effects in various solder types, which may exhibit different failure mechanisms. Additionally, the review discusses the influence of direct current (DC), pulsed DC current (PDC) and alternating current (AC) and concludes with an overview of methods to enhance the electromigration robustness of solder joints.
Tafferner et al. (Sat,) studied this question.
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