Integrated hierarchical durability design tool for electronic packaging

Durability and reliability of solder joint interconnections between electronic parts and printed wiring assemblies (PWA) in a vibration environment is increasingly important since the introduction of lead-free solder, which is known to be an order of magnitude more susceptible to fatigue failure than its tin-lead counterpart. In this paper, an integrated hierarchical durability design tool is introduced to analyze the Line Replaceable Units (LRU) as a whole under a vibration environment. The results will be used for solder joint fatigue analysis. This paper describes the automation of box-, board-, and part-level analyses. The box-level analysis combines PWA's and the mounting chassis in an automated fashion. The construction of PWA's is also through this automated tool. NIKE3D-based acoustic analysis tool is conducted on the assembled model for vibration analysis. The results are exported to the automated part-level analysis for final solder joint fatigue analysis and to subsequent visualization display. This paper illustrates this detailed processes and presents a simple example will be presented.