Good Read Compiled

J Mater Sci: Mater Electron (2013) 24:172190
DOI 10.1007/s10854-012-0720-y
REVIEW
Reliability behavior of lead-free solder joints in electronic

components
Liang Zhang Ji-guang Han Cheng-wen He
Yong-huan Guo
Received: 9 December 2011 / Accepted: 5 April 2012 / Published online: 19 April 2012
Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012
Abstract With more consumer products moving towards

environmentally friendly packaging, making solder Pb-free
has become an urgent task for electronics assemblies.
Solder joints are responsible for both electrical and
mechanical connections. Solder joint does not have adequate ductility to ensure the repeated relative displacements due to the mismatch between expansion coefficients
of the chip carrier and the circuit board. Materials behavior
of solder joints involves a creepfatigue interaction, making it a poor material for mechanical connections. The
reliability of solder joints of electronics components has
been found playing a more important role in service for
microelectronics components and micro-electro-mechanical systems. So many researchers in the world investigated
reliability of solder joints based on finite element simulation and experiments about the electronics devices, such as
CR, QFP, QFN, PLCC, BGA, CSP, FCBGA and CCGA,
which were reviewed systematically and extensively.
Synchronously the investigation on reliability of solder
joints was improved further with the high-speed development of lead-free electronic packaging, especially the
constitutive equations and the fatigue life prediction
equations. In this paper, the application and research status
of constitutive equations and fatigue life prediction equations were reviewed, which provide theoretic guide for the
reliability of lead-free solder joints.
L. Zhang (&) J. Han C. He Y. Guo
School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering,
Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou 221116, China
e-mail: zhangliang@nuaa.edu.cn
L. Zhang
Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Welding,
Jiangsu University of Science and Technology,
Zhenjiang 212003, China
123
1 Introduction
Recent years, investigations on lead-free soldering have
been conducted worldwide according to the implementation of the directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic
Equipment (WEEE) and the directive and the Restriction of
the Use of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS Directive) [13]. Therefore, many
Sn-rich alloy systems have been developed as alternative
candidate lead-free solders, which have attracted much
researches and trial applications in recent years [4]. Among
the various lead-free solder alloy choices as replacements
for conventional SnPb solders, SnAgCu (SAC) alloys are
currently the most popular because of their relatively good
soldering performance, excellent creep resistance, and
thermal fatigue reliability, as well as their compatibility
with current electronic components, meanwhile, SnAg,
SnCu, SnZn et al. are all proposed to replace the SnPb
alloys [5, 6]. However, understanding reliability of leadfree solder joints is still in its infancy compared to traditional SnPb solders, thus, further studies are needed.
Semiconductor packages are exposed to various environments, such as temperature, humidity, dust, shock and
vibration, the main cause for failure of electronic package
is temperature fatigue (55 %) and vibration fatigue (20 %),
in addition, humidity (19 %) and dust (6 %) also contribute
to the failure of electronic devices [7]. Since solder joints
provide the mechanical and electrical interconnect between
the package and the board in the electronic devices, they
are susceptible to failures during thermal cycling [8].
Temperature fluctuations caused by either power consumption or environmental changes, along with the
resulting thermal expansion mismatch between the various
package materials result in deformation stress in packages/
assemblies especially in solder interconnects [9], and
accumulation of stress and strain may induce fatigue cracks

in solder joints and eventually cause the failure of the
whole devices [10, 11]. Consequently, the reliability of
lead-free solder joints is of the main critical issue when
selecting a package for a particular application in electronic industry.
This paper intends to summarize the reliability behavior
of lead-free solder joints in different electronic components, review the stressstrain response of lead-free solder
joints under thermal cycles and analyze the constitutive
models and fatigue life equations of the lead-free solder
joints and SnPb used in electronic packages.
2 Different electronic components

2.1 Resistor packages
In order to understand and appreciate how mean values of
the creep strain and creep energy densities were determined
consider Fig. 1 [12] which depicts the highly stressed areas
of the solder joint, the so called standoff, which is located
directly beneath the CR. These areas are prone to damage
and cracking, which will finally result in component failure. For this reason the irreversibly accumulated strains
were obtained for exactly these areas. For ceramic resistor
devices, Xue [13, 14] found that the shear strengths of
SnAgCu solder joints is greater than that of conventional
eutectic SnPb solder joints. Hegde [15] deals with creep
damage of SnAgCu lead-free solder joints for power
cycling using finite element analysis with the consideration
of experimentally observed non-uniform temperature distributions in the 1,206 surface mount chip resistor. In
addition, a comparison is made for inelastic strain accumulation and fatigue life for creep damage study for spatially uniform and non-uniform temperature power cycling.
Moreover, an accelerated thermal cycling test to assess the
reliability of SnAgCu lead-free solders at chip resistor has
been conducted by Han [16]. In Qis research [17], test
results indicate that the life of lead-free solder at chip
Fig. 1 FEM and corresponding microsection of a destroyed solder

joint [12]
173
resistor (6,432 mm type) would be worse than that of SnPb

solder in the accelerated thermal cycling condition
(125 C/-50 C). Three conditions with two ramp rates
(14 and 95 C/min) and two temperature ranges
(DT = 0100 and -40125 C) were applied to resistor
2,512 test vehicles assembled with SnPb and Pb-free solders. The test results showed that the higher ramp rate
reduced the testing time while retaining the same failure
modes, and that the damage per cycle increased with the
temperature difference. For the resistors, the Pb-free solder
joints lasted longer than the SnPb joints at the smaller DT,
but were inferior at the larger DT.
2.2 QFP/QFN/PLCC/SOJ devices
Quad flat package (QFP) is one of the most common
package types in surface mount technology (SMT) which is
used in many large scale integration (LSI) and very large
scale integration (VLSI) [18]. Three dimensional (3D)
nonlinear finite element simulation methods were utilized
to analyze the stress-strain response in Sn37Pb and
Sn3.5Ag solder joints in QFP100 devices [19]. The simulated results indicate creep distribution of solder joints is
not uniform, the heel and toe of solder joints, the area
between solder joints and leads are the creep concentrated
sites. The creep strain value of Sn3.5Ag solder joints is
lower than that of Sn37Pb solder joints. And the reliability
of SnAgCu solder joints is higher than that of SnPb solder
joints [20]. A quarter of the whole QFP256 was selected for
finite element modeling using hexahedron elements in the
FE analysis due to the symmetry in geometry by Zhang and
Xue [21] as shown in Fig. 2. The simulated results indicate
that SnAgCuCe solders show a superior anti-creep property
over SnAgCu alloys. Using the symmetric geometry,
quarter models with sub-model were used for QFP176
assemblies as shown in Fig. 3 [22]. It is found that the
fatigue life of PQFP components is about 3 times as fatigue
life of PBGA component. The optimum simulation for QFP
devices is also researched [23]. The results indicate that
Fig. 2 Finite element model for QFP256 [21]
123
174
Fig. 3 Quarter FE global and submodel for QFP176 [22]
when the lead widths increase, while the reliability of the

solder joints reduces. When the lead widths are the same,
the maximum equivalent stress of the solder joints does not
decrease completely with the increasing of lead pitches, a
minimum value of the maximum equivalent stress value
exists in all the curves. Under this condition the maximum
equivalent stress of the solder joints is relatively the least,
the reliability of solder joints is high and assembly is
excellent. The simulating results indicate the best parameter: the lead width is 0.2 mm and lead pitch is 0.3 mm,
which are benefited for the reliability of QFP devices now.
In addition, Zhang [24] found that the maximum stress of
QFP lead-free solder joint concentrates on the sharp corner
of interior part of the joint with FR-4 substrate, and the
maximum stress focuses on the sharp corner of exterior
part of the joint with LTCC substrate and the largest stress
concentrated area is at the sharp corner between the solder
joint and lead with PTFE substrate.
Quad flat non-lead (QFN) packages are getting popular
as a low-cost solution for applications with low pin-count
requirements. QFN is also known as micro-lead frame
(MLF), micro-lead package (MLP), quad outline non-lead
(QON), or small outline non-lead (SON) package [25]. It is
a type of chip scale package and can be assembled and
molded in matrix form for saving costs. For quad flat nonlead (QFN) packages, board-level solder joint reliability
during thermal cycling test is a critical issue. A parametric
Fig. 4 Correlation of failure
analysis and SED distribution of
failed peripheral solder joint
[26]
123
3D FEA sliced model is established for QFN on board with

considerations of detailed pad design, realistic shape of
solder joint and solder fillet, and non-linear material
properties [26]. It has the capability to predict the fatigue
life of solder joint during thermal cycling test within
34 % error. The fatigue model applied is based on a
modified Darveauxs approach with non-linear viscoplastic
analysis of solder joints. A solder joint damage model is
used to establish a connection between the strain energy
density (SED) per cycle obtained from the FEA model and
the actual characteristic life during thermal cycling test.
For the test vehicles studied, the maximum SED is
observed mostly at the top corner of peripheral solder joint
as shown in Fig. 4. The modeling predicted fatigue life is
first correlated to thermal cycling test results using modified correlation constants, curve-fitted from in-house QFN
thermal cycling test data. Subsequently, design analysis is
performed to study the effects of 17 key package dimensions, material properties, and thermal cycling test condition. Generally, smaller package size, smaller die size,
bigger pad size, thinner PCB, higher mold compound CTE,
higher solder standoff, and extra soldering at the center pad
help to enhance the fatigue life. For QFN package, it seems
that the lead-free SnAgCu gives a much higher solder
reliability than its SnPb alternative [27].
The appearance of PLCC (Plastic Leaded Chip Carrier)
is similar to that of QFP devices. Zhang [28] conducted a
study on SnPb and lead-free solder joints reliability of
PLCC devices by finite element simulation, the results
indicated that the largest stress was at the area between the
solder joints and the leads, and analysis results showed that
the von Mises stress at the location slightly increased with
the increasing of lead counts. A comprehensive experimental and numerical study of solder joints for plastic
leaded chip carrier (PLCC) 84-pin, 1.27 mm pitch was
carried by Chen [29]. It was found that the Pb-rich phases
segregated gradually and formed a continuous layer adjacent to the intermetallic compound (IMC) layer with
increasing the number of thermal cycles, resulting in cracks
near the solder/lead interface. The response of stress and
strain was studied using nonlinear finite element method

(FEM), and results agreed well with the experimental data.
Furthermore, finite element method was used to simulate
the solder joint of J-lead of the SOJ (Small Outline J-lead
Package) by Wu [30, 31]. Results indicate that the distortion is obvious, the ceramic carrier with up-warp trend, the
J-lead with forth extension trend, but the PCB with little
distortion because of the rigidity displacement restrict. The
strain of the J-lead solder joint soldered heel is bigger than
the soldered toe and the center place has the least strain.
The stress of the J-lead soldered heel is bigger than the
other place of the solder joint and the stress distributes a
wide area, where the weakest place of the whole solder
joint, so it is easy to lose efficacy. The stress of the J-lead
soldered toe is less than the soldered heel, and the stress
distributing area is small. On the contrary, the J-lead solder
joint center place distributes a large area and the stress
value is one order less than the stress value of soldered heel
and soldered toe, so it is the safety place of the solder joint.
The calculated values are in agreement with the experimental results.
2.3 BGA/FCBGA/CSP devices
The ball grid array (BGA) is the prevalent interconnect
structure between electronic packages and printed circuit
boards (PCBs) [32]. BGAs provide structural and thermal
175
connection as well, acting as electrical-circuit components.

An energy partitioning damage evolution (EPDE) model is
proposed to describe the viscoplastic damage evolution.
Application of the EPDE model is demonstrated for
SnAgCu solder joints during thermal cycling of a ball grid
array (BGA) electronic assembly. The FEA analysis predicts the critical solder joint (joint that experiences maximum damage and first failure) to be at the corner of the
package, which agrees with experimental results. It also
predicts the initiation site to be at the component side,
which also was confirmed by experiment as seen in Fig. 5
[33]. In order to make all ball grid array (BGA) packages
on the test board subject to the uniform stress and strain
level during drop impact, a test board in round shape is
designed to conduct drop tests. In simulation, FEM is used
to study transient dynamic responses [34]. The peeling
stress which is considered as the dominant factor affecting
the solder joint reliability is used to identify location of the
failed solder joints. Simulation results show very good
correlation with experiment measurement in terms of
acceleration response and strain histories in actual drop
test. Crack occurred at intermetallic composite (IMC)
interface on the package side with some brittle features.
The position of maximum peeling stress in finite element
analysis (FEA) coincides with the crack position in the
cross section of a failed package, which validated the FEA.
Board-level reliability of low-temperature co-fired ceramic
Fig. 5 Crack observed in the

solder, close to pad. a Contour
plot of damage in local model of
critical solder joint: front view
(b), isometric view (c) [31]
123
176
(LTCC) modules with thermo-mechanically enhanced ballgrid-array (BGA) solder joint structure mounted on a
printed wiring board (PWB) was experimentally investigated by thermal cycling tests in the 0100 and
-40125 C temperature ranges [35]. After the thermal
cycling tests were completed, the test modules were
investigated by SEM. The investigation verified that the
primary failure mechanism was solder fatigue cracking in
both (all) test sets. It can also be noticed that the Sn90Pb
sphere joints are deformed whereas the PCSB joints have
retained their initial shape. The degree of deformation of
Sn90Pb solder joints correlated mainly with the magnitude
of the exposed temperature extremes and the joint distance
from the module neutral point. In the milder test condition,
secondary cracks appeared within the PCSB solder joints,
as shown in Fig. 6. Qu [36] found that reveal that the
failures mainly occur in the solderPCB interface in lower
load level based on experiment and simulation, the other
way round, in a higher load level, the cracks are more
possibly formed in solderpackage interface; comparing to
dropping in horizontal direction with package faces down,
the solder joints are much harder to fail when dropping in
vertical direction. An optimal height and smaller pitch of
solder joints lead to lowest SED and best reliability in the
drop test.
The need of ultra-dense and high I/O for integrated circuit
designs has driven the development of flip-chip technologies
in the contemporary electronic packaging industry. For flipchip ball grid array (FCBGA) package assemblies, the solder
interconnections serve as electrical and thermal paths as well
as structural supports [37]. Anand model was used to
establish the constitutive equation of Sn3.0Ag0.5Cu solder
by Zhang and Xue [38], the stress distribution of solder joints
was analyzed with underfill and without it. It is indicated that
Fig. 6 Fatigue failures in a test module with PCSBs after thermal

cycling at 0100 C [35]
123
the stress concentrates on the top surface of outermost solder

joint whether the underfill is here or not. Due to the using of
underfill, the stress decreases and distributes evenly on the
top surface of solder joint. The Modified Coffin-Mason
equation by Engelmaier was utilized to predict the fatigue
life of solder joint, it is found that the fatigue life of solder
joint with underfill is longer than that without it. The effects
of underfill properties parameters were investigated, it is
indicated that the CTE of underfill influences strongly the
fatigue life of solder joints, but the influence is little for
Youngs Modulus, which will provide a theory guide for
practical applications. Warpage issues are of concern for flip
chip Ball Grid Array (FCBGA) package reliability on thin
substrates [39]. Despite advantages in electrical performance
of thin substrates, FCBGA warpage hampers reliability of
the solder balls making up the ball grid array. FEM calculations of thermal deformation and equivalent plastic strain
of solder balls considered to determine overall reliability of
the solder balls. Solder ball plastic strain decreased with
substrate core thickness. Substrate surface warpage fluctuated significantly as core thickness decreased due to reduced
stiffness. In addition, it is possible that solder balls and surface mounted components can be affected by surface fluctuations. Although thinner substrates have advantages in
terms of electrical performance, high warpage is a critical
root cause of package failure. In addition, since the potential
occurrence of brittle solder joint on FCBGA substrates was a
big concern, there was a strong need to develop a suitable
metrology to detect brittle solder joints. Figure 7 [40] shows
a schematic of different failure modes for the peel test. There
are four different failure modes that can be observed during
the peel test-pad cratering in the substrate, brittle fracture at
the NiP layer in the solder joint at the substrate side, ductile
fracture in the solder ball, and pad cratering in the test coupon
(or mother-board).
The effect of PWB protective coatings and pad structure
(via-in-pad and no via-in-pad) on the reliability of chip
scale package (CSP) interconnections will be investigated
under the drop test conditions. The failure analysis revealed
Fig. 7 A schematic of different failure modes for the peel test [40]
four different modes [41]: (1) fracture in the component

side the CuNiSn layer, (2) fracture in the Cu Sn layer on
the PWB side (only in the Cu OSP assemblies), (3) fracture
below the Cu Ni Sn layer on the PWB side (only in the Ni/
P/Au assemblies), and (4) PWB failure in the RCC buildup
underneath the soldering pads. Modes (2) and (4) did not
cause the components to fail electrically. Thermomechanical stress and strain analysis was conducted by Gonzalez
[42], the trends obtained from modeling results have a good
agreement with the experimental data found in literature,
results also indicate that lead-free alloys can be used as
alternative solder to improve the resistance to fatigue when
compared with standards lead containing solder. Moreover,
effects of high-temperature storage (HTS) aging on the
fracture performance and joint performance of low-Ag
solders/UBM (Ni(P)-Au) are examined for wafer-level
chip-scale packages (WLCSP) [43]. For the Sn1Ag0.5Cu
(SAC 105), the formation and evolution of IMC is different
from SAC 101 through aging. Figure 8a, b shows the
evolution of IMC in SAC105/UBM before aging and after
200 C aging 280 h, respectively. Results shows that HTS
aging results in the change of IMC from one layer (Fig. 8a)
(Cu,Ni)3Sn4 IMC to two different layers IMC (Fig. 8b). In
Fig. 8b, lift part is (Cu,Ni)6Sn5 near bulk solder and the
right part is (Cu,Ni)3Sn4 near UBM. A boundary appears
clearly between the two phases. New phase (Cu,Ni)6Sn5
was formed during HTS between the (Cu,Ni)3Sn4 layer and
solder bulk. An empirical model for estimating the reliability of CSP solder joints is derived by correlating the
simulated strains to thermal cycling results for 20 different
sample configurations [44]. This empirical model translates
the inelastic strains calculated by nonlinear three dimensional (3D) finite element simulations into reliability estimation (N50 % or N100 ppm). By comparing with the results
of reliability tests, it can be concluded that this model is
accurate and consistent for analyzing the effect of solder
joint geometry. These parameters can have a tolerance
(=accuracy) of their nominal value, and it is shown that
these small tolerances can have a significant influence on
the solder joint reliability. To evaluate the various solder
balls in CSP package application, lead-free SnAg-X
(X = In, Cu, Bi) and Sn9Zn1Bi5In solder balls were
characterized by melting behavior, phases, interfacial
reaction, and solder joint reliability based on Yoons works
[45]. All testes lead-free solders showed better board level
solder joint reliability than Sn36Pb2Ag. Sn3.5Ag0.7Cu and
Sn9Zn1Bi5In solders showed 35 %, 100 % superior solder
joint reliability than Sn36Pb2Ag solder ball, respectively.
A three dimensional (3D) nonlinear finite element model of
an overmolded chip scale package (CSP) on flex-tape
carrier has been developed by Mertol [46]. Predicted
results indicate that for an optimum design, that is low
stress in the package and low package warpage, the
177
Fig. 8 The evolution of IMC in SAC105/UBM [43]
package should have smaller die with thicker overmold.

Meanwhile, Pang [47] investigated the effects of employing different two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional
(3D) finite element analysis (FEA) modes for analyzing the
solder joint reliability performance of a flip chip on board
assembly. The thermal fatigue life of Sn3.5Ag lead-free
solder joints of a chip scale package subjected to a thermal
cycling loaded is predicted by Xiao [48]. And Wang [49]
investigated the stress-strain response of solder joints in
CSP device, the result show that temperature distribution
and equivalent stress of solder joints with two different
models are basically same. The difference between the two
numbers of failure cycles is not more than 5 %.
2.4 CCGA devices
In many applications such as computers and telecommunications, the IC chip sizes are very large, the on-chip
frequency and power dissipation are very high, and the
123
178
number of chip I/Os is very large. The CCGA (ceramic

column grid array) package developed by IBM is one of the
best candidates for housing these kinds of chips [50, 51].
For the CCGA assembly with SnAgCu and SnPb solder
fillets based on finite element simulation, the thermalfatigue life of the solder columns with lead-free solder
fillets should be shorter than that with the SnPb solder
fillets, since the maximum creep strain energy per cycle in
the solder column with the lead-free solder paste is larger
than that with the SnPb solder paste. ANSYS FEA software
was employed to establish three-dimensional strip model of
CCGA624 device and optimized simulation of soldered
column dimension was also studied [52]. Results indicated
that the most dangerous soldered column located in the
furthest distance from the device center, the strain concentration occur in and around the interface between the
eutectic solder and the Sn3.5Ag solder column where will
be the foremost location for appearance of crack. Optimization results of soldered column dimensions show that the
value of strain increase with the increase of column pitch;
with increase of soldered column height the strain curves
present parabolic-shaped and can acquire the minimum
equivalent strain in the height of 2.07 mm; the value of
strain increase with the increase of soldered column
diameter and the curve shows a clear monotone trend. In
practical applications, we can choose proper soldered column dimension based on the principle of smaller strain.
The dominant deformation mode is bending of the column
due to thermal expansion mismatch between the module
and the printed circuit board (PCB) [53]. The results are
compared with those of tinlead CCGA tested under similar conditions. Unlike tinlead columns, where the failure
occurs at the column near the top of the solder fillet and
through the thickness of the column, in the CuCGA, the
failure is found to occur first in the solder fillet at the
solder/copper column interface and the crack propagates
along the periphery of the copper column. The accumulated plastic deformation per cycle is larger in tinlead
columns compared to the copper columns. Moreover,
thermal cycling behavior of ceramic packages (CCGA560)
commonly used for the aerospace applications was studied
by Ghaffarian [54]. Based on numerical FEM models
(Fig. 9) and experiments, the high cycle solder joint fatigue
life for the 90Pb10Sn solder in a CCGA electronic component was determined by Perkins [55]. The location of
solder joint failures was identified through a dye-and-pry
analysis and correctly predicted with the numerical FEM.
The solder joints close to the clamped boundaries experience the greatest stress amplitude and fail first. The
mechanism of failure was observed to be a microcrack
initiation at phase boundaries followed by microcrack
coalescence into macrocracks. The fatigue life of a CCGA
can be greatly enhanced by not using the solder joints
123
Fig. 9 The finite element model [55]
closest to constrained boundary conditions for electrical

purposes. Ceramic column grid array (CCGA) packages
have become increasing popular as an alternative to ceramic ball grid array (CBGA) packages for applications
requiring more than 625 interconnections [56]. As package
body size increases beyond 32.5 mm, the column structure
offers an essential improvement to thermal fatigue life of
the package solder joint for many application. Microelectronic packages are subjected to a combination of thermal
cycling, power cycling, and dynamic mechanical loading
such as shock and vibration besides humidity, pressure, and
other conditions [57, 58]. Therefore, effects of such multiple loading conditions on CCGA solder joints reliability
need to be assessed by applying the loads concurrently and/
or sequentially.
3 Constitutive models
3.1 Anand model
Anand and Brown et al. [5961] firstly proposed a simple
set of constitutive equations for materials with large, isotropic elastic-viscoplastic deformations but small elastic
deformations. There are two basic features in this Anand
model [62, 63]. First, this model needs no explicit yield
condition and no loading/unloading criterion. The plastic
strain is assumed to take place at all nonzero stress values,
although at low stresses the rate of plastic flow may be
immeasurably small. Second, this model employs a single
scalar as an internal variable to represent the isotropic
resistance to plastic flow offered by the internal state of the
material. For applying the Anand to describe the inelastic
deformation of solders, the physical mechanisms such as
temperature sensitivity, strain hardening, strain rate sensitivity, strain rate, and temperature history effects, etc.
should be taken into account.
179
The averaged isotropic resistance representing the isotropic strengthening mechanisms such as dislocation density, solid solution strengthening, subgrain, and grain size
effects is characterized by the internal variable s, which
depends on the temperature and rate-dependent strain history of the materials [64]. The flow function of the Anand
model is in hyperbolic sine shape:

1=m

nr
Q
e_ P A sinh
exp
1
S
kT
From the above Anand constitutive model, there are

nine material parameters, the nine material constants A, Q,
_
n, M, s , n, ho, a and So can be determined directly from the
experimental data. The material parameters of Anand
constitutive relation for different lead-free solders and
conventional SnPb alloys are determined based on fitting
procedure by many researchers are listed in Table 1.
3.2 Steady-state creep model
The evolution equation for the internal variable s is

assumed to be of the form as

a B
s_ h0 jBj
2
e_ P
j Bj
s
B1
3
s

n
_p
Q
_ e
exp
s s
4
kT
A
Characteristics of time-dependent deformation and failure

for the electronics components are a major concern for
stability and safety. Creep under constant stress and
relaxation under constant strain are two typical timedependent phenomena of materials [80]. Because of the
low melting points of both lead-free and SnPb solders, even
room-temperature corresponding to a high homologous
temperature of the more than 0.5Tm at which, creep is the
most important deformation mechanism. Figure 10 [81]
shows a typical creep curve for lead-free solders, which
generally consists of three stages after the initial instantaneous strain when a constant load is applied. At the instant
the force is applied, the solder will experience a strain,
which is part elastic and part plastic. The elastic part can be
predicted given the Youngs Modulus of the solder as
discussed earlier. The plastic part is the instantaneous
where So, initial value of deformation resistance; Q, activation energy; R, universal gas constant; A, pre-exponential
factor; n, multiplier of stress; m, strain rate sensitivity of
_
stress; ho, hardening/softening constant; s , coefficient for
deformation resistance saturation value; n, strain rate sensitively of saturation (deformation resistance) value; a,
strain rate sensitively of hardening or softening.
Table 1 Material parameters of Anand constitutive relation
Solder alloys
A/s-1
Q/R/J mol-1
Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu [65]
Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu0.03Ce [65]
24300
21200
8710
8026
n
5.8
5
s /MPa
0.183
0.130
65.3
57.6
0.019
0.0175
52.4
Sn3.5Ag [66]
177016
85459
0.207
Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu [67]
15.773
9883
1.0673
0.3686
Sn1.0Ag0.5Cu [67]
3.773
8076
0.9951
0.4454
Sn3.0Ag0.5Cu [68]
717.260
6067
0.130
3.1505
3.5833
29.0
0.0177
0.0352
0.0120
0.0436
ho/MPa
3541.2
4352.6
27782
So/MPa
1.9
2.3
39.5
28.5
1.6
0.0673T ? 28.6
1076.9
1.6832
3.2992
4507.5
2.1669
2.3479
2.22
2.45
14560
Sn3.5Ag [68]
344.716
6538
0.143
26.0
0.0447
23241
1.46
0.65
Sn0.7Cu [68]
764.166
5837
0.123
26.4
0.0430
11656
2.33
4.43
Sn37Pb [69]
6220
6525
3.33
0.27
36.86
0.022
60599
1.7811
3.1522
Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu [70]
107.65
7619
59.36
4.03
86.28
0.0046
9002
1.30
22.64
Sn3.5Ag [71]
52690
8765
0.182
76.944
0.018
7205.18
1.2321
30.36
Sn37Pb [72]
26
5797
10
0.25
83.12
0.043
Sn36Pb2Ag [73]
23000000
11262
11
0.303
80.79
0.0212
Sn3.5Ag [73]
22300
8900
0.182
73.81
0.018
Sn4.0Ag0.5Cu [74]
325
10561
10
0.32
42.1
0.02
Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu [75]
Sn40Pb [76]
2.23
14900000
8900
10830
6
11
0.182
0.303
73.81
80.415
0.018
0.0231
92148
4121.31
3321.15
800000
3321.15
2640.75
37.9
42.32
1.82
39.09
2.57
20
1.82
1.34
39.09
56.33
Sn97.5Pb [77]
3.25E12
15583
0.143
72.73
0.00437
3.73
15.09
Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu [78]
862
15516
25.57
0.55
18.7
0.034
195109
2.02
28.81
Sn8.5Sb [78]
2.23E8
13816.8
13.85
0.417
76.0
0.01
291215
2.34
48.15
Sn92.5Pb2.5Ag [79]
105200
11010
0.241
41.63
0.002
1.3
33.07
1787.02
1.24
1.38
1432
123
180
Garofalo-Arrhenius model:

Q
n
e_ cr C sinhar exp
RT
Dorn model:

Q
e_ cr Arn exp
RT
Fig. 10 Diagram showing the response of solder during a creep test

[81]
plasticity, Darveaux et al. [82] and Wiese and Rzepka [83]

offer laws to predict this, although the distinction between
this instantaneous plasticity and the following primary
creep region is not well defined. As the test continues the
strain increases, first rapidly (primary region) and gradually
slowing to a steady strain rate (secondary region). This
additional strain is due to creep. After the secondary region
come the tertiary region during which the strain rate
increases until rupture. This occurs due to both necking
(shrinking of the cross section resulting in increased stress)
and damage (cracking) occurring in the solder. However,
the secondary, or steady-state creep is the dominant
deformation experienced by solder alloys [84]. In this
stage, the strain rate is retarded by strain hardening, which
decreases the deformation speed, while the associated
recovery and recrystallization (softening) tend to accelerate
the creep rate. The steady-state creep rate can be quantitatively estimated, and a series of constitutive models have
been proposed. The following two models are the most
widely accepted for the characterization of solder alloys by
considering the diffusion controlled creep deformation
mechanism (Fig. 11).
(a)
(b)
Fig. 11 Dislocation motion in the two stress regimes [108]. a LSR,

b HSR
123
where e_ cr is the creep rate, r is the applied stress, n is the

stress exponent, C and A are constants relevant to the
microstructure, Q is the creep-active energy, R is the gas
constant, T is absolute temperature. Q and n are two
important mechanical and thermodynamic parameters for
describing the creep deformation of solders. Equations (5)
and (6) can be further simplified as Eqs. (7) and (8).

C4
_ecr C1 sinhC2 rC3 exp
7
T

C3
8
e_ cr C1 rC2 exp
T
Based on above steady-state constitutive model, these
material parameters can be determined directly from the
experimental data and fitting. The material parameters of
the constitutive relation for different lead-free solders and
conventional SnPb alloys are determined based on fitting
procedure by many researchers are listed in Tables 2 and 3.
Creep deformation mechanisms are identified by the values
of the stress exponent n and the activation energy Q [85].
Dislocation creep occurs as a result of glide and climb of
edge dislocations.
3.3 Double power law creep model
Recent years, many efforts were made by researchers to
explore the constitutive response of the lead-free solders
and SnPb alloys during the creep. Among the proposed
constitutive equations, there are two widely accepted
models [102]. One is the hyperbolic sine law which was
suggested by Schubert et al. [103] to represent the high
stress region as a power law break down region. The other
is the double power law which was formulated by Wise
et al. [104] to describe the steady state creep of the solder
by clime controlled behavior at low stress and the combined glide/climb behavior at high stress (Eq. 9). For the
eutectic SnPb was found [105] that the creep behavior at
low and medium stresses can be divided into three distinct
regions: region I (low strain rates) = NabarroHeering
creep; region II (intermediate strain rates) = superplastic
behavior; region III (high strain rates) = climb controlled
dislocation creep. Although experimental results for region
I are contradictory, there is agreement about the creep
behavior in regions II and III, which is usually expressed
181
Table 2 Creep parameters for different solders (Eq. 7)

C1(1/s)
Solder alloys
C2(1/MPa)
C3
C4(K)
Sn1.3Ag0.2Cu0.05Ni [86]
8E ? 5
0.1
9020
Sn1.3Ag0.5Cu0.05Ni [86]
6E ? 4
0.11
8419
Sn2.7Ag0.4Cu0.05Ni [86]
2E ? 7
0.143
12026
Sn80Au [87]
4.62E ? 15
2E-5
2.07
12267
Sn3.5Ag0.7Cu [88]
4.61E ? 6
0.037
6.17
8400
Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu [17]
926(508-T)/T
(37.78 9 106-74414T)-1
3.3
6360
Sn3.5Ag [89]
98437
0.103
6.65
9561
Sn5Sb [89]
42409
0.04
4.5
6542
Sn9Zn [89]
81524
0.06
4.57
7841
Sn3.0Ag0.5Cu [90]
6.385E-6
0.08638
5.84
Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu [91]
Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu [92]
3.2E ? 4
441000
0.037
5E-9
5.1
4.2
159.97
6524
5412
Sn3.9Ag0.6Cu [93]
500000
0.01
5802
Sn3.5Ag [94]
18(553-T)/T
145.036 9 [1/(6386-11.55T)]
5.5
5802
Sn3.9Ag0.6Cu [95]
441000
0.005
4.2
5412
Sn36Pb2Ag [95]
462(508-T)/T
145.036 9 [1/(5478-10.79T)]
3.3
6360
100In [94]
40647(593-T)/T
145.036 9 [1/(274-0.47T)]
8356
Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu [96]
325000
0.05217
5.3
5800
SnAgCu0.03Ce [96]
284000
0.02432
6.1
6400
Sn3.5Ag [97]
900000
0.0653
5.5
8690
Sn37Pb [98]
10
0.2
5400
Table 3 Creep parameters for different solders (Eq. 8)

Solder alloys
C1(1/s)
C2
C3(K)
12267
Sn80Au [87]
8.37E ? 5
2.07
Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu [95]
2.6E-5
3.69
4330.046
Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu [96]
1.5E-9
8.2
8538.78
Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu0.03Ce [96]
6.2E-11
8.0
9621.17
Sn3.5Ag [98]
5E-6
11
1179
Sn4.0Ag0.5Cu [98]
2E-21
18
9994
Sn3.5Ag [99]
7.087E-8
5.5
Sn3.5Ag [100]
6.62E-3
12
13048.7
Sn9Zn [100]
9.27
8.1
12014.4
Sn3.5Ag2Bi [101]
0.679
3.304
4630.186
7357.907
by double power law equation [106]. Song et al. [107]

investigated the creep behavior of three tin-rich solders that
have become candidates for use in lead-free solder joints:
Sn3.5Ag, Sn3Ag0.5Cu, Sn0.7Cu. Their steady-state creep
rates are separated into two regimes with different stress
exponents. The low-stress exponents range from *3 to 6,
while the high-stress exponents are anomalously high
(712). Strikingly, the high-stress exponent has strong
temperature dependence near room temperature, increasing
significantly as the temperature drops from 95 to 60 C.
The anomalous creep behavior of the solders appears to be
due to the dominant tin constituent. Research on creep in
bulk samples of pure tin suggests that the anomalous

temperature dependence of the stress exponent may show a
change in the dominant mechanism of creep.

n1

n2
Q1
r
Q2
r
e_ cr A1 exp
A2 exp
9
rn
rn
RT
RT
where e_ cr is the steady state creep strain rate, A a constant,
Q the activation energy, R the Boltzmanns constant, T the
absolute temperature, r the applied stress, rn the deformation resistance relative parameter and n is the stress
component The subscript 1 denotes the parameters for
creep behavior at low stresses while the subscript 2 denotes
the parameters for creep behavior at high stresses.
The constitutive behavior for creep performance of
Sn3.5Ag0.7Cu lead-free solder joints was investigated by
Han [108]. It was observed that the stress exponent (n) can
be well defined into two stress regimes: low stress and high
stress. A new, improved constitutive model, which considered back stress, was proposed to describe the creep
behavior of SnAgCu solder joints. In this model, the back
stress, which is a function of the applied shear stress in the
low stress regime (LSR) and a function of the particle size,
volume fraction and coarsening of IMC particles in the
high stress regime (HSR), was introduced to construct the
relationship between the creep strain rate and the shear
stress. The creep mechanism in these two stress regimes
was studied in detail In the LSR [109], dislocations passed
123
182
through the matrix by climbing over the intermetallic

particles, while in the HSR [110], the dislocations were
glide-controlled. The double power law creep model of
Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu and Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu0.1RE solders by Chen
[111]. Results indicated that at low stress, the true creepactivation energy of SnAgCu and SnAgCuRE solder joints
is close to the lattice self-diffusion activation energy, so the
steady-state creep rates of these two solder joints are both
dominated by the rate of lattice self-diffusion. While at
high stress, the true creep-activation energy of SnAgCu and
SnAgCuRE solder joints is close to the dislocation-pipe
diffusion activation energy, so the steady-state creep rates
are dominated by the rate of dislocation-pipe diffusion. At
low stress, the best-fit stress exponent n of SnAgCu and
SnAgCuRE solder joints are 6.9 and 8.2, respectively, and
the true creep-activation energy of them both is close to
that of lattice self-diffusion. At high stress, it equals 11.6
and 14.6 for SnAgCu and SnAgCuRE solder joints,
respectively, and the true creep-activation energy for both
is close to that of the dislocation-pipe diffusion. Reynolds
[112] studied the creep behavior of In-Ag eutectic solder
joints. The high-stress mechanism is a bulk mechanism
with a thermal dependence dominated by the thermal
dependence of creep in the In-rich matrix. The low-stress
mechanism is a grain boundary mechanism.
4 Fatigue life equations

4.1 Coffin-Manson equation
For strain-based analysis, Coffin-Manson fatigue model is
widely used for low cycle fatigue analysis. More than
35 years have elapsed since Coffin and Manson [113, 114]
independently proposed the famous empirical law
Nf Deb
P , which relates the number Nf of cycles to fracture in fatigue to the amplitude of the applied cyclic plastic
deformation Dep . The exponent b has been found remarkably universal and very close to 2 in single-phased metallic
materials, whatever their atomic and/or polycrystalline
structure. This law holds when Dep is not too small defining
the low-cycle-fatigue regime (LCF) [115]. Under LCF
conditions with or without hold time, the relation between
the number of cycles to failure (Nf ) and the plastic strain
range (Dep ) is known to have the following relationship:
b
Nf C Dep
10
where Nf is the number of cycles to failure, C and b are the
materials constants, Dep is the plastic strain range.
In the LCF tests, as the loading hold time is increased,
the fatigue life is observed to be decreased at a fixed test
temperature and a given plastic strain range [116]. Solder
123
joints fatigue life subject to thermal cycling loading is

often characterized by a series of isothermal low cycle
fatigue (LCF) tests at different test temperatures and frequencies [117]. Although much information is available for
the low cycle fatigue behavior of Sn37Pb solder, less data
can be found for lead-free alloys. Chen [118] fitted CoffinManson equation of Sn4.0Ag0.5Cu lead-free solder joints
by using results of solder joints reliability test and finite
element analysis. Moreover, Sun [119] has determined the
Coffin-Manson (CM) equation constants for fatigue life
estimation of Sn8Zn3Bi solder joints, since Sn8Zn3Bi
solder has a melting temperature of around 199 C which is
close to that of the conventional SnPb solder which has
previously been used in the electronics assembly industry.
The CM equation for Sn8Zn3Bi solder joints was fitted to
the lifetimes measured and the shear strains simulated. The
constants were determined to be 0.0294 for C, the proportional constant, and for the fatigue exponent, b, -2.833.
Low cycle fatigue studies on Sn0.7Cu lead-free solders was
evaluated over a range of test temperatures (298, 348 and
398 K) and frequencies (10-3 to 1 Hz), tested at four
values of total strain range (2, 2.5, 5 and 7.5 %) by Pang
[120]. It is found that the fatigue exponent and ductility
coefficient in the Coffin-Manson model can be determined
at three temperatures of 298, 348, 398 K and at the three
frequencies of 10-3, 10-2, and 1 Hz. In addition, the low
cycle fatigue behavior of the eutectic solder was found by
Shi [121] to be strongly dependent on test temperature and
frequency. If the CoffinManson model is used to describe
such fatigue behavior, the fatigue exponent and ductility
coefficient in the model are found to be a function of
temperature and frequency rather than numerical constants.
The plastic flow law was employed to explain the temperature and frequency dependence. The frequency-modified CoffinManson model was tried and found to be able
to eliminate the frequency dependence of the numerical
constants but not the temperature dependence. To have a
full description of the temperature- and frequency-dependent fatigue behavior, a set of empirical formulae was
derived based on the frequency-modified CoffinManson
model.
The low cycle fatigue lives under constant-amplitude
uniaxial loading can be corrected by the Basquin-CoffinManson equation as follows [122]:
b

c
De r0f
2Nf e0f 2Nf

2
E
11
In this expression, r0f and e0f are constants known as the

fatigue strength coefficient and the fatigue ductility
coefficient, respectively, and b and c are known as the
fatigue strength exponent and the fatigue ductility
exponent, respectively. 2Nf is a reversal and is defined to
183
Fig. 12 Total strain versus life equation [126]
allow for analysis of complex loading spectra. This fatigue

model includes fatigue damage contributions from plastic
deformation (CoffinManson LCF curve) and elastic
deformation (Basquin HCF curve) [123]. As seen in
Eq. (11), there are four model constants altogether that
need to be estimated. The plastic (LCF) part of the
durability model has been investigated in previous studies
for SAC305 [124] and for Sn37Pb [125], based on 50 %
load-drop under quasistatic mechanical cycling on a shear
specimen. This fatigue model is an improvement over the
Coffin-Manson equation in that it also accounts for the
elastic contribution to fatigue failure. As can be seen in
Fig. 12 [126], the low cycle region to the left of Nf is
governed by the plastic-strain amplitude (Coffin-Manson
equation), and the high cycle region to the right of Nf is
governed by the elastic-strain amplitude (Basquins
equation).
where e_ f is fatigue ductility coefficient, Nf is the mean

cycles to failure. c is the fatigue ductility exponent,
c 0:442 6 104 TS 1:74 102 ln1 f , TS is
the mean cyclic solder joint temperature, C, f is the cyclic
frequency, 1 f 1; 000 cycles/day. e0f is the fatigue ductility coefficient, 2e0f 0:65, f is the cyclic frequency.
For eutectic SnPb solder the two fatigue parameters in
Eq. (11) can be determined from the experiments by
making assumptions about the correlations between the
fatigue ductility exponent and both the solder joints temperatures and the appropriate behavior of the exponent
within the ranges, a linear temperature correlation and a
logarithmic frequency correlation appear to describe this
behavior best [130]. Shin [131] predicted the thermal
fatigue life of a lBGA (Micro Ball Grid Array) solder
joints based on Engelmaier fatigue life equation. Thermal
fatigue life of four different solder alloys shows an
increasing order: as Sn3.5Ag3In0.5Bi [ Sn3.5Ag0.7Cu [
Sn3.5Ag [ Sn37Pb at the low temperature range, and
Sn3.5Ag [ Sn3.5Ag0.7Cu [ Sn37Pb [ Sn3.5Ag3In0.5Bi
at the high temperature range. The fatigue life of PBGA
was predicted using Engelmaier model by Tong [132]. The
simulation result of the model shows that the position of
the critical soldered position of a plastic ball grid array
component is right below the edge of its die, but not the
outboard solders. This result is helpful to improve the
thermal fatigue reliability of plastic ball grid array
components. And Ma [133] found that compared with
Engelmaier solder joints prediction fatigue life model,
Coffin-Manson model is highly evaluated than that of
practical experimental fatigue life in flip chip.
4.3 Darveauxs energy method
4.2 Engelmaier equation

Werner Engelmaier developed his semi-empirical solder
joint fatigue model during the early 1980s [127]. The
model is based on generic fatigue models for metals. By
testing a considerable number of test devices, Engelmaier
could turn the generic, somewhat abstract parameters into
easily measurable ones. The formulation used is based on
the shear strain assumption resulting in easily measurable
parameters, such as solder joint height and distance to
neutral point. The Engelmaier fatigue model is shown in
Eq. (12) [128, 129]. The total number of cycles to failure is
related to the total shear strain Dc, the fatigue ductility
coefficient e_ f , and the variable, c, which is a function of
frequency and temperature.
1 Dc
Nf
2 2e0f
!1=c
12
There have been several models describing the relationship

between the physical constants and the real lifetime of the
solder joints under different thermal or mechanical stress
conditions, based on stress, strain or energy Among them,
the Darveaux model [36] is the most popular one because
of its good compatibility with ANSYS software. In Darveaus energy method, to predict characteristic fatigue life
of each solder joints, accumulated plastic work per cycle is
averaged across the elements along the solder joint interface where the crack propagates. The equation for
stabilized change in average plastic work is given in
Eq. (13).
P
DW V
P
DWave
13
V
Calculation of thermal cycles to crack initiation and crack
propagation rate per thermal cycle are given by Eqs. (14)
and (15)
123
184
NO K1 DWave K2
da
K3 DWave K4
dN
a
Nf No
da=dN
Nf C0 eacc
15
Nf W 0 wacc
16
where K1 , K2 , K3 , K4 are the experimental constants related to

failure mechanism; No is the number of cycles when the
failure appears; Nf is the number of cycles when the failure
occurs; a is the critical length for fracture; da=dN is the speed
of crack expansion; DWave is the average strain energy density.
Characteristic solder joint fatigue life can then be calculated by summing the cycles to crack initiation with the
number of cycles taken by crack to propagate across the
entire solder joint diameter shown in Eq. (17)
a
a NO
17
da=dN
To evaluate characteristic life, DWave, i.e., element
volumetric average of the stabilized change in plastic work
within the controlled soldered element thickness was used.
But, maximum accumulated plastic work per cycle was
used in place of DWave. This approach was used to achieve
more realistic crack initiation across the solder
interconnects since averaging of plastic work has a
tendency to overpredict the life of solder interconnects
[134]. A 3D finite element model has been developed by
Chen [135] based on Darveauxs energy method to study
the reliability of BGA solder joints, it is found that solder
joints fatigue life is dependent on the its location, namely
the outmost solder joints fatigue life is shortest.
4.4 Syed model
Many thermo-mechanical fatigue life prediction models
have been developed, recently, for SnPb and lead-free
solder interconnects either based on strain range, accumulated creep strain or based on the accumulated strain
energy density during a temperature cycle. Among those
life models, the models, proposed by Syed [136, 137] based
on accumulated creep strain and accumulated creep strain
density, however, are worth to be explained. According to
Syed, creep is considered as the primary damage mechanism for SnAgCu solder during thermal cycling and is
solely used to simulate the material behavior. The life
prediction basis, therefore, should to be creep deformation
also. The cyclic loading is considered as a special case of
creep due to sequence of loading which are repeated in a
cyclic manner to derive the life prediction model parameters. The life prediction model parameters were determined
by curve fitting creep strain and accumulated energy density per cycle calculated from simulations. The life prediction models [102] are given as
123
1
14
18
1
19
where Nf is the number of repetitions or cycles to failure,
eacc the accumulated creep strain per cycle, C0 1 ef the

inverse of creep ductility and ef is the constant which gives
the creep ductility or the strain at the onset of failure, wacc
the accumulated creep strain energy density per cycle and
W 0 is the creep energy density for failure.
In addition, Wise [83, 104, 138, 139] described the
steady state creep behavior of lead-free solder both by
dislocation climb controlled process at low stress and the
combined dislocation glide/climb process at high stress.
Therefore, in order to predict the fatigue life of lead-free
solder joints, it is necessary to take the two factors into
consideration. For these reasons, Syed A [140] gave the
fatigue life prediction based on accumulated creep strain
and creep strain energy density as follows:
1
Nf C1 eIacc C2 eP
acc

1
Nf WI wIacc WP wP
acc
20
21
where Nf is the number of repetitions or cycles to failure,

C1 and C2 are materials creep constants, wIacc and wP
acc are
I
P
the creep strain energy density per cycle, eacc and eacc are
the accumulated creep strain parameter per cycle under the
conditions of low stress and high stress, respectively.
4.5 Others
The fatigue life of solder joints can be described with a
two-parameters Weibull equation [141].
F x 1 ex=h
22
where F x is the probability of failure after x cycles, b is

the shape parameter, h is the mean life (63 % failure).
The critical plane approach proposed by Brown and Miller
[142] is given in the generalized functional form of shear
strain and normal strain on the maximum shear strain plane.
b

c
s0f
Dcmax
ken
2Nf o c0f 2Nf o
2
G
23
where Dcmax is the maximum shear strain range, en is the

normal strain range acting on the maximum shear strain
plane, and k is a material constant that can be determined
by merging axial and torsional fatigue data together.
Also it is found that fatigue life has a power relationship
with ratcheting strain rate. For this reason, one proposes the
range of maximum shear strain range (Dcmax ) and axial
ratcheting strain rate (_er ) as damage parameters for the new
model. The new parameter is given by the following
equation [143].
b

c
s0f
Dcmax
o
S_ec
2Nf o c0f 2Nf o
r
2
G
185
24
where Dcmax is the maximum shear strain range, e_ r is saturation of ratcheting strain rate, co is the shear fatigue
ductility exponent, and S is a material constant that can be
determined by uniaxial ratchetingfatigue tests.
A fatigue life prediction methodology was developed by
Pierce [144], based on stress-strain, creep, and isothermal
fatigue data. The proposed fatigue life prediction methodology builds on current practices in fatigue prediction for
solder alloys, particularly the concepts of unpartitioned
energy methods in finite element analysis (FEA) and continuum damage mechanics.
pl
da
dNi
ZWf
W1pl
i

NCS;f
X da
da
pl
T;
a
dW

T;
a
DWjpl
pl
dW pl
dW
i
j
jN
CS;1
25
where da=dNi is the crack growth rate per cycle for the ith
cycle. Increments of plastic work are integrated from the
initial viscoplastic work of the ith cycle, W1pl , to the final
viscoplastic work of the same cycle, Wfpl . On the right hand
side is the numerical implementation of the crack growth
rate per cycle. The summation for this numerical estimate
is done from the first converged substep of the ith cycle,
i
i
NCS;1
, to the final converged substep of the ith cycle, NCS;f
.
Nozaki [145] studies the creepfatigue life evaluation of
Sn3.5Ag solder under push-pull loading using fast-fast,
fast-slow, slow-fast, slow-slow, and strain-hold strain
waves. The grain boundary sliding model (GBSM)
assumed that the grain boundary sliding rate is proportional
to the creepfatigue damage rate, so cycles to failure in any
strain wave (Nf ) is related to cycles to failure in respective
strain waves by
1
1
1
1
1
26
Npc Ncp Ncc Nth Nf
where 1 Npc , 1 Ncp , 1=Ncc and 1=Nth are the creepfatigue

damage rates in pc, cp, cc, and th tests, respectively; pc, the
unsymmetrical triangular waves with fast tension-going/
slow compression-going strain rates; cp, slow tensiongoing/fast compression-going strain rates; cc, wave
includes creep deformation in both tension and compression going stages; th, trapezoidal strain wave with tension
hold-times.
An innovative methodology to predicting solder joint
fatigue life that combines the strength of mechanics-based
finite-element formation, sets of experimental data, and
design of simulations has been developed by Perkins
[146].
Universal CBGA predictive equation for thermal

cycling:
N ATC Weibull
uWeibull AF
uAF N50
uN 50

1=3
ln1 F% 0:01 1=c
135 1:9 f ATC

ln 0:5
DT ATC
2

1
0
1414
B
@e
1
1
T ATC 383
peak
C
A 12476 0:241A 719:9B
1728C 1381D 12456E 78:7BC

72:4BD 220CD
kuN ATC
27
A, substrate size (mm), 2532.5 mm; B, CTE mismatch,
7.411.2 ppm/C; C, substrate thickness, 0.82.9 mm; D,
PWB thickness, 1.570.8 mm; E, pitch, 1.001.27 mm;
s
2
u
u 2 u
Weibull 2
AF
N 50
ATC
uN ATC N
28
Weibull
AF
N 50
DT, temperature range (K); f, frequency (cph); Tpeak ,
peak temperature (K); F%, failure percentage, 0 \ F%
\ 100 %; c, shape parameter, 411 for CBGA; uWeibull ,
estimated uncertainty of the Weibull factor; uAF , estimated
uncertainty of the AF factor; uN 50 , estimated uncertainty
of N50 regression equation.
A new and simple empirical equation for predicting the
thermal-fatigue life of solder bumped flip chip on low-cost
PCB has been presented by Lau [147].
da
C1 10C2 C3 C1 C4 C4 =C1 C3 DW C1 1=C1 C3
dN
29
where a is the crack length, N is the number-of-cycles, C1 ,

C2 , C3 , C4 are constants, and da=dN is the fatigue crack
growth rate of the corner solder joints. DW is the average
strain energy range.
5 Conclusion
Miniaturization and high levels circuit integration are
driving forces for surface mount technology (SMT) devices
in finer pitches, higher speed, and greater packaging density. However, the reliability of solder joints has been
became a serious concern because solder joints in electronics components provide not only the mechanical
attachments but also electrical connections were investigated systematically. In addition, the transition for leadfree solder and lead-free process will bring many new
reliability problems, especially for the constitutive relation
models and fatigue life prediction equation. Upon
increasing to the concentration further, until now there are
123
186
few reports about the strain to failure of new lead-free

solder joints, such as SnAgCu or SnZn lead-free solder
joints with the addition of alloying elements. The mechanisms of failure for the observed behavior are not clear and
have not been fully discussed. In addition, in service, solder
joints experience high homologous temperatures that promote time-dependent creep and microstructural change,
and an important area of investigation is the formulation of
constitutive equations that describe the resultant deformation in terms of external variables: applied stress, temperature, and time. These relationships are essential for
assessing lead-free alloys performance under likely inservice conditions, and they provide crucial input to finite
element models that examine the structural integrity of
lead-free solder joints. Moreover, this paper presents a
critical review of fatigue life prediction methodology of
solder joints. Approaches of fatigue life prediction are
developed based on experimental stress/strain/energy density and so on. A number of fatigue life prediction methods
have been confirmed during the past few years. However,
there are few literatures reported the fatigue life model for
lead-free solder joints. Therefore, the reliability of leadfree solder joints need to be investigated systematically,
especially the constitutive relation models and fatigue life
prediction equations.
Acknowledgments The present work was carried out with the supported by the Jiangsu University of Science and Technology: Provincial
Key Lab of Advanced Welding Technology Foundation (JSAWS-1103) and the Xuzhou Normal University Foundation (11XLR16).
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J Mater Sci: Mater Electron (2013) 24:172190

Reliability behavior of lead-free solder joints in electronic

Abstract With more consumer products moving towards

J Mater Sci: Mater Electron (2013) 24:172190

accumulation of stress and strain may induce fatigue cracks

2 Different electronic components

Fig. 1 FEM and corresponding microsection of a destroyed solder

resistor (6,432 mm type) would be worse than that of SnPb

Fig. 2 Finite element model for QFP256 [21]

Fig. 3 Quarter FE global and submodel for QFP176 [22]

when the lead widths increase, while the reliability of the

J Mater Sci: Mater Electron (2013) 24:172190

3D FEA sliced model is established for QFN on board with

J Mater Sci: Mater Electron (2013) 24:172190

strain was studied using nonlinear finite element method

connection as well, acting as electrical-circuit components.

Fig. 5 Crack observed in the

Fig. 6 Fatigue failures in a test module with PCSBs after thermal

J Mater Sci: Mater Electron (2013) 24:172190

the stress concentrates on the top surface of outermost solder

J Mater Sci: Mater Electron (2013) 24:172190

four different modes [41]: (1) fracture in the component

Fig. 8 The evolution of IMC in SAC105/UBM [43]

package should have smaller die with thicker overmold.

number of chip I/Os is very large. The CCGA (ceramic

J Mater Sci: Mater Electron (2013) 24:172190

Fig. 9 The finite element model [55]

closest to constrained boundary conditions for electrical

J Mater Sci: Mater Electron (2013) 24:172190

From the above Anand constitutive model, there are

The evolution equation for the internal variable s is

Characteristics of time-dependent deformation and failure

J Mater Sci: Mater Electron (2013) 24:172190

Fig. 10 Diagram showing the response of solder during a creep test

plasticity, Darveaux et al. [82] and Wiese and Rzepka [83]

Fig. 11 Dislocation motion in the two stress regimes [108]. a LSR,

where e_ cr is the creep rate, r is the applied stress, n is the

J Mater Sci: Mater Electron (2013) 24:172190

Table 2 Creep parameters for different solders (Eq. 7)

Table 3 Creep parameters for different solders (Eq. 8)

by double power law equation [106]. Song et al. [107]

bulk samples of pure tin suggests that the anomalous

through the matrix by climbing over the intermetallic

4 Fatigue life equations

J Mater Sci: Mater Electron (2013) 24:172190

joints fatigue life subject to thermal cycling loading is

2Nf e0f 2Nf

In this expression, r0f and e0f are constants known as the

J Mater Sci: Mater Electron (2013) 24:172190

Fig. 12 Total strain versus life equation [126]

allow for analysis of complex loading spectra. This fatigue

where e_ f is fatigue ductility coefficient, Nf is the mean

4.2 Engelmaier equation

There have been several models describing the relationship

J Mater Sci: Mater Electron (2013) 24:172190

where K1 , K2 , K3 , K4 are the experimental constants related to

where Nf is the number of repetitions or cycles to failure,

eacc the accumulated creep strain per cycle, C0 1 ef the

where Nf is the number of repetitions or cycles to failure,

where F x is the probability of failure after x cycles, b is

where Dcmax is the maximum shear strain range, en is the

J Mater Sci: Mater Electron (2013) 24:172190

where 1 Npc , 1 Ncp , 1=Ncc and 1=Nth are the creepfatigue

Universal CBGA predictive equation for thermal