Design, assembly, inspection and repair personnel have a new tool to help improve reliability of ball grid arrays (BGAs) and fine-pitch ball grid arrays (FBGAs) in high density applications, thanks to the newly released C revision of IPC-7095, Design and Assembly Process Implementation for BGAs.

Published by IPC — Association Connecting Electronics Industries and developed with input from representatives from OEMs, fabricators, EMS companies and others in the electronics manufacturing industry, IPC-7095C addresses design and process considerations of particular importance to portable handheld products in which BGAs are a dominant interconnection technology.

 “Handheld products continue to shrink. At the same time, alloys, ball shape and attachment procedures are evolving,” says Ray Prasad of Prasad Consultancy Group, who helped spearhead development of the document. “That combination presents some unique challenges to product reliability that the new revision of IPC-7095 seeks to solve.”

A notable addition to the revised document is its inclusion of expanded information on mechanical failure issues such as PCB pad cratering or laminate defects that occur after assembly. In addition to providing guidelines for BGA inspection and repair, IPC-7095C addresses reliability issues and the use of lead-free joint criteria associated with BGAs. It also features numerous photographs of X-ray and endoscope illustrations to identify various defect conditions such as head on pillow, an incomplete and unreliable condition that can occur during BGA assembly processes.

Assumed failure mechanism for "head-on-pillow," also known as "head-in-pillow." Source: Renesas

IPC-7095C, Design and Assembly Process Implementation for BGAs, is 165 pages long. IPC members may purchase a hard copy of the document for $55; the industry price is $110. Single-user, site and global licenses are also available. For more information or to purchase a copy of IPC-7095C, visit www.ipc.org/7095.