Predicting Thermal Fatigue Lifetimes for SMT Solder Joints

A power-law type creep equation has been added to finite element models to calculate solder joint response to time, temperature, and stress level. The ability of the models to predict solder joint behavior was verified by running a series of creep tests. The models were then solved to determine the solder joint creep strains which occur during thermal cycling. These creep strains were used to predict the degradation of pull strength resulting from thermal cycling. More than 8,600 solder joints were thermally cycled and then individually pull tested to verify the accuracy of the method.