Survivability of Flip Chips Using PCBs with Carbon Fiber in a Fatigue Environment

Flip chip packaging technology is being developed using printed circuit boards (PCBs) with carbon fiber composites or STABLCOR^reg, to withstand low temperature, fatigue conditions on Mars, from -130degC to +85degC, for a 1 year mission. This technology will benefit future rovers by allowing for electronic packaging to be incorporated as highly dense, low mass multifunctional structures outside a warm electronics box (WEB). STABLCOR^reg is fabricated within the PCB in proximity to the flip chips. The flip chips on boards with and without carbon fiber weave failed due to thermal strain and, ultimately, fatigue. It was also found that the carbon fiber weave within the board affects the flatness and, ultimately, the survivability of flip chips. Further experiments must be performed in order to fully determine if STABCLOR^reg increases the flip chip survivability in this extreme environment. This paper describes the design, assembly, and testing of flip chips in this extreme environment, and additional experiments needed for the flip chip packaging on boards with and without STABLCOR^reg.