Determination of stress-strain curve for microelectronic solder joint by ESPI measurement and FE analysis

Many thermomechanical reliability studies on microelectronics and microsystems have relied upon computational analysis, since experimental work is rather difficult and very time-consuming. For computational analysis, it is essential to use as input accurate material properties; if not, the results of a reliability analysis may be very inaccurate. However, it is still quite difficult to arrive at unified material properties for modeling microelectronic assemblies because of the absence of standards for micro-material characterization, the difference between bulk and in-situ material properties, and so forth. The goal of this study was to determine the uniaxial stress-strain curve of a solder in a flip-chip assembly, using experimental measurements and finite-element analysis (FEA) of the solder's thermal deformation characteristics with increasing temperature. The thermal deformation of flip-chip solder joints was measured by electronic speckle pattern interferometry (ESPI). For the scale of evaluation required, the measurement magnification was modified to allow its application to micromaterials by using a long-working-distance microscope, iris and zoom lens. Local deformation of solder balls could be measured at submicrometer scale, and stress-strain curves could be determined using the measured thermal deformation as input data for finite-element analysis. The procedure was applied to an Sn-36Pb-2Ag flip-chip solder joint.