The ongoing journey to co-design of chip, package and substrate.

Over the last few years I have been asked to examine many different ball grid array (BGA) defects from assembly and on field failures here are a selection of the defects and some of the popular causes.

Approaching four decades of working in the electronics interconnection industry, it appears to this observer that, when looking back over all those years, the electronics interconnection manufacturing industry has been on a treadmill of sorts and changing ever so slowly.

Ball Grid Array BGAs are a widely used technology in a vast range of products, including consumer, telecommunications and office-based systems.

Electronics manufacturing technology has evolved slowly since its beginnings. 

Soldering in the legislatively imposed era of lead-free solder has resulted in some significant challenges being thrust upon the electronics assembly industry.

Surface mount technology (SMT) first started with the introduction of mixed technology designs incorporating components mounted on the underside of the circuit board.  

How often have you solved assembly and soldering problems only to have them come back to haunt you in six months’ time?