Reliability Test Method Overview to Characterize Second Level Interconnects

This paper deals with electronic board assembly reliability studies, where most of the failures in the field are known to be caused by electrical discontinuities, and often intermittent ones. To choose the test method and to define the testing conditions, the mission profile has to be evaluated. It is necessary to verify and consider all the possible failure mechanisms in order to avoid any violation of acceleration factor hypothesis for the reliability prediction. The test vehicle has to be representative of the real products and to take into account all the relevant parameters which can change the test results, like raw materials, subparts dimensions, etc. The last point, and one of the most important, is the failure detection. This paper illustrates a methodology applicable to the second level interconnect reliability evaluation, and proves that the early detection of intermittent failures is necessary.