Advancements in fracture and failure simulation for electronic package applications

Advancements in simulation technology over the last several years now make it much easier for electronics engineers to solve the types of fracture and failure problems common in this industry, whilst also enabling the solution of problems that were previously not possible. This paper will describe the extended Finite Element Method (XFEM) and its application to electronic industry workflows. XFEM is an extension of the conventional finite element method which uses special purpose element formulations to capture the presence of discontinuities without the requiring the mesh to match the geometry of those discontinuities. It is therefore a very attractive and effective way to simulate initiation and propagation of a discrete crack along an arbitrary, solution-dependent path without the requirement ofremeshing in the bulk materials. Furthermore, XFEM can be combined with surface-based failure mechanisms, which are best suited for modeling interfacial delamination, to simulate cracks that run along interfaces and then may break into the bulk material, and vice versa. Real world customer examples will be used to highlight the advantages of this new technology, including: ease of use for building curved crack fronts in complex, curved geometries; solution-dependent crack propagation, not requiring apriori crack path definition; cyclic loading for fracture mechanics; the global/local modeling approach; and, co-simulation of implicit and explicit dynamics to enable XFEM for drop test applications.