HIGH I/O BGA CONNECTOR SOLDER JOINT INTEGRITY INVESTIGATION

The innovations that have enabled smaller physical size and increased functionality of today’s electronic products have transformed how we integrate them into our everyday routines. These achievements have resulted in higher component densities on printed circuit assemblies, which have the obvious effect of requiring product design teams to implement high I/O connector component styles. A nonobvious effect is how these high density connectors impact assembly producibility and solder joint integrity. An investigation was conducted to characterize the solder joint integrity of high I/O BGA connector technologies under IPC Class 3 thermal cycle conditioning. Thermal cycle testing was conducted per IPC-9701 using a -55°C to +125°C temperature range. The testing identified a number of high I/O BGA connector configurations that exhibited robust solder joint integrity.