Investigating the mechanical effect of the solder joint thickness with simulation

Abstract

In this paper, the effect of the various thickness of the solder joint between the SMD (Surface Mound Device) chip resistor and the PCB (Printed Circuit Board) pad on the mechanical strength was investigated with FEM (Finite Element Method) simulation. The mechanical effect was studied for different solder alloys too; lead-free and lead-bearing alloys were compared together. A FEM program was used to calculate and simulate the response for the mechanical loading. The solder joint of a 0603 (1.6 × 0.8 mm) size SMD resistor was investigated while the mentioned thickness was increased from 12 μm up to 130 μm. The simulation used non-linear material parameters for the solder joint. In the finite element analysis, we examined the stress response that was induced by shear load. The solution of the Anand model showed that a thicker solder joint results in a less mechanical stress.