Advanced In Situ X-ray Metrology for Thermal Interface Materials Package Failure Analysis

Innovative in situ X-ray metrologies for package failure analysis (FA) were developed to understand solder thermal interface materials (STIM) package process and failure mechanisms through elevated temperature. Dynamic STIM void formation mechanism and STIM bleeding-out dependency on reflow were observed. It was found that long sit time before STIM liquidus temperature helps to minimize the STIM void formation and fast cooling mitigates the STIM bleed-out risk. Our studies demonstrate that in situ metrologies offer direct guidance to packaging process optimization and accelerate root-cause identification for temperature induced package failures; therefore, it improves throughput-time for packaging technology development.