Evaluation of thermomechanical behavior of electronic devices through the use of a reduced order modelling approach

Abstract

Warpage is an issue in the manufacturing of electronic packages. The main driver for this effect is the mismatch of material properties especially during temperature cycling. To predict warpage before building samples, the FEM (Finite Element Method) is used in this study. PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards) are assembled in array format. Thus the simulation should be done in this format. Studies investigated PCBs thru a detailed representation [1]. However, no studies were found which simulate an array of PCBAs (Assembled PCBs). This is mainly due limitation of the hardware memory. The array of m2x modules in this work is not feasible to be calculation thru a usual modelling approach, even not through cloud computing. Thus this study investigates the use of substructures to overcome the hardware limitations. The array was manufactured and the simulation results were validated by using DIC (Digital Image Correlation). The predicted warpage of the novel modelling approach is well aligned with the measurement results.The establishment of the method for array format warpage assessment significantly decreases the development times for electronic packages, due to the mitigation of reliability risks and thus design cycles.