1. Abaqus Technology BriefTB-09-LCF-1Revised: July 2009Low-cycle Thermal Fatigue of a Surface-mount Electronics AssemblySummaryThe solder joints of surface-mount electronic devices mayfail because of low-cycle fatigue. Combined with differ-ences in thermal expansion properties for the variouscomponents of the assembly, cyclic thermal loading in-duces stress reversals and the potential accumulation ofinelastic strain in the joints. Predicting solder joint fatiguelife requires a thorough understanding of the deformationand failure mechanisms of the solder alloy and an accu-rate calculation of the stresses and strains in the joint.In this Technology Brief, a thermal fatigue analysis of asurface mount electronic assembly is conducted usingthe Abaqus/Standard low-cycle fatigue capability. With acost efficient direct cyclic procedure, material models forthe creep of regular and lead-free solder, and the ability Key Abaqus Features and Benefitsto model the initiation and evolution of material damage,Abaqus/Standard can provide an accurate prediction of Efficient low-cycle fatigue analysis combiningsolder joint fatigue failure.the direct cyclic approach and damage extrapo- lationBackgroundThe classical approach to numerically predict the fatigue Ductile material progressive damage modelinglife of a solder joint is to conduct a transient finite elementbased on accumulated inelastic hysteresis en-analysis in which the load cycle is repetitively applied toergythe structure. Given that it may take a large number ofcycles for the structure to fail under fatigue, the analysis Creep laws for regular and lead-free soldercost may render this method unpractical. Thermal loading to analyze the effects of mis-As an alternative, Abaqus/Standard provides a special- matching thermal expansion coefficientsized low-cycle fatigue capability. It uses the direct cyclicmethod to obtain the stabilized response of the structuredirectly, rather than through repetitive application of a Finite element modelload cycle. This approach can provide large savings inA quarter symmetric model of the PQFP is used for thecomputational costs.simulation. A strong mismatch in the coefficient of thermalThe loading conditions under which damage initiates and expansion (CTE) exists between the electronic chip andaccumulates are of primary interest when consideringthe PCB, and between the solder joints and the leads.fatigue life. After damage initiates, an extrapolation tech-The solder joints and leads near the corner of the PQFPnique allows the current damaged material state to be experience the highest deformations since they are far-projected forward over groups of loading cycles without thest from the center of the assembly. Because failure ishaving to physically simulate the damage evolution in most likely to occur in this area, these joints and leads areeach individual cycle. This capability makes it possible to more finely meshed (see Figure 1) so that sufficiently ac-efficiently capture the degradation process of the solder curate stresses and strains can be calculated.joints in its entirety.The corner solders and leads are meshed with a total of7296 first-order brick and wedge elements. The remain-Analysis Approachder of the model is discretized with 4121 elements. TheThe structural model of a 100-pin plastic quad flat packmesh incompatibility at the refined bond pad/PCB and(PQFP) consists of a printed circuit board (PCB), an elec-lead/chip interfaces is accommodated with surface-basedtronic chip, bond pads, solder joints, and gullwing leads.tie constraints.

2. 2Figure 1: PQFP mesh, with refinement in corner legs Figure 2: One thermal loading cycleMaterial modelsThe stabilized solution is then determined, the damage state extrapolated to the next increment, and the processThe elastic behavior of the solder is modeled with a tem-repeats.perature-dependent modulus of elasticity. The soldersinelastic response is characterized by the double-powerResultscreep model of Wiese [1], and is documented in AbaqusAnswer 3049. The Abaqus/Standard damage initiation As a result of the efficient procedures, the analysis takesand evolution model for low-cycle fatigue analysis is char-only 2353 seconds of CPU time in Abaqus/Standard 6.9-1acterized by the amount of inelastic hysteresis energy with an Intel Xeon CPU of 2.8GHz.accumulated per stabilized loading cycle.The deformation and damage in the solder joints is ofThe other components of the PQFP are assumed to be-greatest interest. Shown in Figure 3 is the deformedhave as linear elastic, with temperature-independent shape of the two corner legs after 800 cycles of thermalproperties. This assumption allows the option of modelingloading. While the actual deformation is small, the dis-the entire PQFP, apart from the two corner solders and placements in Figure 3 are magnified 50 times for betterleads, as a single substructure. Although not taken in the visualization. We can see that the legs are twisted at theirpresent simulation, this approach can further reduce the bases; this is caused by the aforementioned thermal mis-size and cost of the analysis. match, i.e., different components of the PQFP having dif- ferent CTE values. It is also observed in Figure 3 thatLoading and analysis procedure some of the solder elements have failed. An animation of how the solder joint fails during the course of simulationThe PQFP is subject to a thermal loading cycle that is can be found in Figure 6.illustrated in Figure 2. It consists of uniform heating from0C to 125C, holding at 125C, cooling uniformly from125C to 0C, and holding at 0C. Heating and coolingare performed linearly over 1 minute, while holding peri-ods are 15 minutes in duration. The PQFP is assumed tobe initially stress-free at a reference temperature of 0C.The entire loading history consists of 801 applications ofthe thermal cycle.The low-cycle fatigue analysis combines the direct cycliccapability with a damage extrapolation technique. Thedirect cyclic procedure uses a combination of Fourier Se-ries and time integration of the nonlinear material behav-ior to directly compute a stabilized state in which thestress-strain relationship in each successive cycle is thesame. If the damage initiation criterion is satisfied at anymaterial point at the end of a stabilized cycle, the damagestate is extrapolated forward to the next solution incre-ment over a user-chosen number of cycles; for this analy-sis, the forward extrapolation was done over 50 cycles. Figure 3: Deformed shape of the corner legs 3. 3Figure 4: Equivalent creep strain history at solder joint toeFigure 5: Mises stress history at solder joint toeFigures 4 and 5 show the equivalent creep strain andments immediately above the element being plotted haveMises stress history plots during cycles 1, 576, and 800 in completely degraded by cycle 800.an element of the toe area of the joint, where the maxi-mum creep strain occurs. We can see that the creepConclusionstrain increases while the stress stays roughly the sameReliable estimation of solder joint life in the electronicsin the traces for cycles 1 and 576. The initial dip and sub-industry calls for accurate and efficient simulations of low-sequent peak in the stress plots are due to the combina-cycle thermal joint failure in surface mount assemblies.tion of the initial stress state and the competing effects of The unique low-cycle fatigue analysis capability and ver-creep relaxation and CTE mismatch between the PCB satile material library of Abaqus/Standard make it an idealand the chip. The stress history in cycle 800 shows the tool for advanced simulations in this field.effect of stress re-distribution after degradation; the ele- Figure 6: Development of equivalent creep strain and Mises stress in solder joint (click to animate) 4. 4 References 1. S. Wiese, E. Meusel, and K.J. Wolter, Microstructural Dependence of Constitutive Properties of Eutectic SnAg andSnAgCu Solders, 53rd ECTC Conference Proceedings, pp. 197-206, 2003. 2. D. Cadge, Abaqus for Electronics, Tutorial at the 2006 Abaqus User Conference Abaqus References For additional information on the Abaqus capabilities referred to in this brief, please see the following Abaqus 6.11 docu- mentation references: Analysis Users Manual Damage initiation for ductile materials in low-cycle fatigue, Section 23.4.2 Damage evolution for ductile materials in low-cycle fatigue, Section 23.4.3 Low-cycle fatigue analysis using the direct cyclic approach, Section 6.2.7About SIMULIASIMULIA is the Dassault Systmes brand that delivers a scalable portfolio of Realistic Simulation solutions including the Abaqus prod-uct suite for Unified Finite Element Analysis, multiphysics solutions for insight into challenging engineering problems, and lifecyclemanagement solutions for managing simulation data, processes, and intellectual property. By building on established technology, re-spected quality, and superior customer service, SIMULIA makes realistic simulation an integral business practice that improves prod-uct performance, reduces physical prototypes, and drives innovation. Headquartered in Providence, RI, USA, with R&D centers inProvidence and in Suresnes, France, SIMULIA provides sales, services, and support through a global network of over 30 regionaloffices and distributors. For more information, visit www.simulia.comThe 3DS logo, SIMULIA, Abaqus and the Abaqus logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Dassault Systmes or its subsidiaries, which include Abaqus, Inc. Other company, product and servicenames may be trademarks or service marks of others.Copyright Dassault Systmes, 2009