PCB Assembly Reliability Analysis

By: MingYao Ding

1 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. May 22, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 Agenda

• PCB Assembly Failures Modes

• Challenges of modeling PCB Assemblies
• ANSYS Mechanical Workflow
− Trace mapping
− Thermal analysis – joule heating hot spot detection
− Solder reflow – board level warpage analysis
− Vibration – modal analysis and random vibration analysis
− Automated post processing
− Thermal cycle - solder joint fatigue
• Conclusion

2 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. May 22, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 PCB Assembly Failures Modes

• Mechanical failure of PCB assemblies are primarily due to Electronics failure modes
US Air force Avionics Integrity Program
thermal and vibration issues.
• As packages become thinner and boards become thicker,
Thermal
the risk of failure increases and becomes harder to
predict using traditional design rules. Vibration

Humidity
• ANSYS provides a full set of tools to model the entire PCB Dust
assembly efficiently. This allows engineers to foresee
issues during the design process.

3 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. May 22, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 Challenges of modeling PCB Assemblies

• Geometry complexity
PCB
− PCB • 11 layers
− Electronics Components • 21,000 bodies
(including trace and
− Complex material models for solder via)

Board design from:

[Link]
open hardware robotics platform
Electronics components
• 585 bodies
Anand’s Viscoplasticity model • 324 solder bodies on one chip
R. Darveaux, “Effect of Simulation
Methodology on Solder Joint Crack Growth
Correlation”, ECTC 2000
4 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. May 22, 2018 ANSYS Confidential
 ANSYS Mechanical Workflow
Submodel of chip with solder balls
PCB assembly CAD
• PCB sliced so that each
layer is a separate body
Solder reflow warpage
(for trace mapping) simulation
• With submodeling of
crucial components

Operating condition
thermal stress simulation
with joule heating

Model and random

vibration analysis

ODB++ layout file Joule heating results from

for trace mapping DCIR Simulation
5 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. May 22, 2018 ANSYS Confidential
 Trace Mapping
ECAD Data
ODB++/BRD/MCM/SIP/ANF etc.

• The first step in accurate simulation

of modern PCB assemblies is to
capture the distribution of copper in Mesh
each layer of the board. High
resolution
• Trace mapping calculates an Cartesian
equivalent material property for metal map
each element in the PCB mesh based calculation
on the proportion of trace and
substrate covered by the element.
• This leads to more accurate thermal, Metal map on
warpage and vibration simulation actual mesh,
results. layer by layer.

6 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. May 22, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 Thermal analysis – joule heating hot spot detection

• In high powered PCB, joule

heating inside the PCB can
result in localized high
temperature regions.
Electrical Schematic
• High temperatures can cause
PCB and near by components
to degrade over time, leading
to failure.
• ANSYS SIWave provide an easy
to use wizard that guides users
in the setup of DCIR Assign voltage and
simulations. current to high powered
pins
Load ECAD layout file
7 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. May 22, 2018 ANSYS Confidential
 Thermal analysis – joule heating hot spot detection

• Current, resistance and losses are

calculated on the PCB for every
electrical net.
• The electrical resistance losses are
exported to ANSYS Mechanical and
mapped on to the steady state
thermal simulation

8 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. May 22, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 Thermal analysis – joule heating hot spot detection

Hot Chips Temperature

• In this thermal analysis we

have
− 5 packages with high energy
dissipation.
− Convection boundary condition
to simulate the effect of stagnant
air.
− Joule heating in the traces of the
PCB

Deformation

Joule
heating
locations
9 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. May 22, 2018 ANSYS Confidential
 Solder reflow – board level warpage analysis

• In modern lead free PCB assemblies, Solder reflow profile: p68

Handbook for Robustness Validation of
the solder reflow process can cause Automotive Electrical/ Electronic Modules.
ZVEI Die Electroindustrie
failure.
• The melting temperature of lead free
solder can over 170° C. This can cause
significant deformations due to
mismatch of thermal expansion
coefficients (CTE) between different
materials.

Warppage 170°C -> 22°C

10 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. May 22, 2018 ANSYS Confidential
 Solder reflow – board level warpage analysis

• Failure of packages on the board Plot of the z

is related to the warpage of the direction warpage
package. (Stienberg: Designing for package.
Electronics for high vibration and shock)

• Warpage of key packages are

evaluated. Those with large Warpage
warpage are selected for sub-
modeling

In a sub-model, the
deformation results from the
global model is mapped on to
the cut boundaries of the sub-
model. Therefore the sub-
model behaves as if it is a part
of the global model.

11 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. May 22, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 Solder reflow – board level warpage analysis – sub-model
Boundary deformation from
global model

Sub-model allows additional

details to be included.
• Solderballs automatically create
based on ECAD Layout on
selected packages. (324 bodies) Solderballs

Max strain on the

solder ball can point
to failure location.
Submodel deformation

12 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. May 22, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 Vibration – modal analysis and random vibration analysis

• Vibration can be a cause for PCB assembly

failure.
• Simulation can be used to guide and
evaluate the design to improve the
chances for passing vibrations testing.
• Typical simulations are
− Modal – natural frequency
− Random Vibration – vibration/fatigue during
operations
− Response Spectrum – Shock analysis (not shown
in this presentation)

13 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. May 22, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 Vibration – modal analysis
Use the model with
trace mapping and
assign support
locations
• Modal analysis is the most basic of
vibration analysis techniques.
• Commonly used during design to avoid
1st mode 2nd Mode
vibration issues

3rd mode

14 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. May 22, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 Vibration – random vibration analysis

• Random vibrations analysis can be used to

estimate fatigue life/failure due to vibrations.
• As with all fatigue calculations, accurate
random vibrations simulations requires
correlations with various tests.
• Steinberg through extensive testing, has
formulated an equations to predict whether
different electronics packages will pass certain
random vibrations criteria.
− Z = single amplitude dynamic displacement, in.;
− L = length of component, in.;
− B and t = board length and thickness
− c = 1.0 for standard DIP;
• 1.26 for a DIP with side-brazed leads;
• 1.26 for a pin-grid array with two parallel rows of pins;
• 1.0 for a pin-grid array with four rows of pins
• 2.25 for leadless chip carrier
15 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. May 22, 2018 ANSYS Confidential
 Vibration – random vibration analysis
3 Sigma
deformation
plot
• In ANSYS, the appropriate power
spectrum density (PSD) load is
applied to the supports of the PCB
assembly

Support locations

Calculate the
deformation of
each package

PSD

16 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. May 22, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 Automation
Python script

• ANSYS mechanical can be automated

using scripting or extensions.
• Python script is used here to
automatically calculate the warpage of
all bodies selected.
• In addition, scripts can be turned into
Warpage results
GUI extensions for easier reuse.

GUI Extension

17 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. May 22, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 Thermal cycle - solder joint fatigue
Simulate least 3 thermal cycles
• Solder joint fatigue due to thermal
cycling can be predicted in ANSYS.
Area of the crack separated
from the rest of the
solderball
Calculate the
accumulation of the
volume averaged
nonlinear plastic
work.

Automated
Anand fatigue
viscoplasticity or
calculations using
the generalized
Garofalo creep an script
model used to extension
model Solder

18 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. May 22, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 Conclusion

• This presentation shows some of the key ways ANSYS

Mechanical can be used to help predict failure in PCB
assemblies.
• Different workflows are available for designers and
analysts. Everyone can gain additional insight into PCB
reliability through the use of simulation.
• This is a small selection PCB assembly simulation ANSYS
has helped our customer perform. We are happy to
discuss any additional issues you encounter.

19 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. May 22, 2018 ANSYS Confidential