A Rapid Life-Prediction Approach for PBGA Solder Joints Under Combined Thermal Cycling and Vibration Loading Conditions

While some electronic products are routinely subjected to concurrent vibration and temperature cycle loading, the ability to accurately model and estimate life expectancy of hardware under such conditions still presents a unique challenge. For combined vibration and temperature cycling, one of the most likely causes of failure is the fatigue of solder interconnects. This paper presents an approach to predict solder joint life under combined thermal cycling and vibration loading conditions, by taking into account temperature effects and loading interactions. Combined loading experiment on a test vehicle populated with PBGA packages was used to demonstrate this approach.