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The purpose of this study is to propose a simplifying approach for modelling a reliability test. Modelling the reliability tests of printed circuit board (PCB)/microelectronic component assemblies requires the adoption of several simplifying assumptions. This study introduces and validates simplified assumptions for modeling a four-point bend test on a PCB/wafer-level chip scale packaging assembly.

In this study, simplifying assumptions were used. These involved substituting dynamic imposed displacement loading with an equivalent static loading, replacing the spherical shape of the interconnections with simplified shapes (cylindrical and cubic) and transitioning from a three-dimensional modelling approach to an equivalent two-dimensional model. The validity of these simplifications was confirmed through both quantitative and qualitative comparisons of the numerical results obtained. The maximum principal plastic strain in the solder balls and copper pads served as the criteria for comparison.

The simplified hypotheses were validated through quantitative and qualitative comparisons of the results from various models. Consequently, it was determined that the replacement of dynamic loading with equivalent static loading had no significant impact on the results. Similarly, substituting the spherical shape of interconnections with an equivalent shape and transitioning from a three-dimensional approach to a two-dimensional one did not substantially affect the precision of the obtained results.

This study serves as a valuable resource for researchers seeking to model accelerated reliability tests, particularly in the context of four-point bending tests. The results obtained in this study will assist other researchers in streamlining their numerical models, thereby reducing calculation costs through the utilization of the simplified hypotheses introduced and validated herein.

This study aims to focus on the surface mount technology (SMT) mass production process of Sn-9Zn-2.5Bi-1.5In solder. It explores it with some components that will provide theoretical support for the industrial SMT application of Sn-Zn solder.

This study evaluates the properties of solder pastes and selects a more appropriate reflow parameter by comparing the microstructure of solder joints with different reflow soldering profile parameters. The aim is to provide an economical and reliable process for SMT production in the industry.

Solder paste wettability and solder ball testing in a nitrogen environment with an oxygen content of 3,000 ppm meet the requirements of industrial production. The printing performance of the solder paste is good and can achieve a printing rate of 100–160 mm/s. When soldering with a traditional stepped reflow soldering profile, air bubbles are generated on the surface of the solder joint, and there are many voids and defects in the solder joint. A linear reflow soldering profile reduces the residence time below the melting point of the solder paste (approximately 110 s). This reduces the time the zinc is oxidized, reducing solder joint defects. The joint strength of tin-zinc joints soldered with the optimized reflow parameters is close to that of Sn-58Bi and SAC305, with high joint strength.

This study attempts to industrialize the application of Sn-Zn solder and solves the problem that Sn-Zn solder paste is prone to be oxidized in the application and obtains the SMT process parameters suitable for Sn-9Zn-2.5Bi-1.5In solder.

This paper aims to improve the life of the printed circuit boards (PCB) used in computers based on modal analysis by increasing the natural frequency of the PCB assembly.

In this work, through experiments and numerical simulations, an attempt has been made to increase the fundamental natural frequency of the PCB assembly as high as practically achievable so as to minimize the impacts of dynamic loads acting on it. An optimization tool in the finite element software (ANSYS) was used to search the specified design space for the optimal support location of the six fastening screws.

It is observed that by changing the support locations based on the optimization results the fundamental natural frequency can be raised up to 51.1% and the same is validated experimentally.

Manufacturers of PCBs used in computers fix the support locations based on symmetric feature of the board not on the dynamic behavior of the assembly. This work might lead manufacturers to redesign the location of other surface mount components.

This work provides guidelines for PCB manufacturers to finalize their support locating points which will improve the dynamic characteristics of the PCB assembly during its functioning.

This study provides a novel method to improve the life of PCB based on support locations optimization which includes majority of the surface mount components that contributes to the total mass the PCB assembly.

This study aims to investigate the thermal fracture mechanism of moisture-preconditioned SAC305 ball grid array (BGA) solder joints subjected to multiple reflow and thermal cycling.

The BGA package samples are subjected to JEDEC Level 1 accelerated moisture treatment (85 °C/85%RH/168 h) with five times reflow at 270 °C. This is followed by multiple thermal cycling from 0 °C to 100 °C for 40 min per cycle, per IPC-7351B standards. For fracture investigation, the cross-sections of the samples are examined and analysed using the dye-and-pry technique and backscattered scanning electron microscopy. The packages' microstructures are characterized using an energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy approach. Also, the package assembly is investigated using the Darveaux numerical simulation method.

The study found that critical strain density is exhibited at the component pad/solder interface of the solder joint located at the most distant point from the axes of symmetry of the package assembly. The fracture mechanism is a crack fracture formed at the solder's exterior edges and grows across the joint's transverse section. It was established that Au content in the formed intermetallic compound greatly impacts fracture growth in the solder joint interface, with a composition above 5 Wt.% Au regarded as an unsafe level for reliability. The elongation of the crack is aided by the brittle nature of the Au-Sn interface through which the crack propagates. It is inferred that refining the solder matrix elemental compound can strengthen and improve the reliability of solder joints.

Inspection lead time and additional manufacturing expenses spent on investigating reliability issues in BGA solder joints can be reduced using the study's findings on understanding the solder joint fracture mechanism.

Limited studies exist on the thermal fracture mechanism of moisture-preconditioned BGA solder joints exposed to both multiple reflow and thermal cycling. This study applied both numerical and experimental techniques to examine the reliability issue.

This study aims to investigate the reliability issues of microvoid cracks in solder joint packages exposed to thermal cycling fatigue.

The specimens are subjected to JEDEC preconditioning level 1 (85 °C/85%RH/168 h) with five times reflow at 270°C. This is followed by thermal cycling from 0°C to 100°C, per IPC-7351B standards. The specimens' cross-sections are inspected for crack growth and propagation under backscattered scanning electronic microscopy. The decoupled thermomechanical simulation technique is applied to investigate the thermal fatigue behavior. The impacts of crack length on the stress and fatigue behavior of the package are investigated.

Cracks are initiated from the ball grid array corner of the solder joint, propagating through the transverse section of the solder ball. The crack growth increases continuously up to 0.25-mm crack length, then slows down afterward. The J-integral and stress intensity factor (SIF) values at the crack tip decrease with increased crack length. Before 0.15-mm crack length, J-integral and SIF reduce slightly with crack length and are comparatively higher, resulting in a rapid increase in crack mouth opening displacement (CMOD). Beyond 0.25-mm crack length, the values significantly decline, that there is not much possibility of crack growth, resulting in a negligible change in CMOD value. This explains the crack growth arrest obtained after 0.25-mm crack length.

This work's contribution is expected to reduce the additional manufacturing cost and lead time incurred in investigating reliability issues in solder joints.

The work investigates crack propagation mechanisms of microvoid cracks in solder joints exposed to moisture and thermal fatigue, which is still limited in the literature. The parametric variation of the crack length on stress and fatigue characteristics of solder joints, which has never been conducted, is also studied.

We study the potential effects of pension underfunding on corporate investment, financial constraints and improved employee bonding using 10 Pacific-Basin countries (including the United States, Australia, and eight Asian countries) at heterogeneous economic development stages and different regulatory environments. We document that corporate pensions are significantly underfunded in most countries of our sample in the period of 2001–2017, when interest rates were ultralow in most countries. In addition, firms from countries with stronger employee protection and more generous retirement benefits tend to show higher levels of underfunding in their defined benefit (DB) pension plans. To the extent of pension underfunding imposing constraints on corporate investment, we find that firms in these countries can face more constraints on investment when their pension is underfunded.

The purpose of this paper is to explore teacher candidates’ response to young adult literature (prose and comics) featuring fat identified protagonists. The paper considers the textual and embodied resources readers use and reject when imagining and interpreting a character’s body. This paper explores how readers’ meaning making was influenced when reading prose versus comics. This paper adds to a corpus of scholarship about the relationships between young adult literature, comics, bodies and reader response theory.

At the time of the study, participants were enrolled in a teacher education program at a Midwestern University, meeting monthly for a voluntary book club dedicated to reading and discussing young adult literature. To examine readers’ responses to comics and prose featuring fat-identified protagonists, the author used descriptive qualitative methodologies to conduct a thematic analysis of meeting transcripts, written participant reflections and researcher memos. Analysis was grounded in theories of reader response, critical fat studies and multimodality.

Analyses indicated many readers reject textual clues indicating a character’s body size and weight were different from their own. Readers read their bodies into the stories, regarding them as self-help narratives instead of radical counternarratives. Some readers were not able to read against their assumptions of thinness (and whiteness) until prompted by the researcher and other participants.

Although many reader response scholars have demonstrated readers’ tendencies toward personal identification in the face of racial and class differences, there is less research regarding classroom practices around the entanglement of physical bodies, body image and texts. Analyzing reader’s responses to the constructions of fat bodies in prose versus comics may help English Language Arts (ELA) educators and students identify and deconstruct ideologies of thin-thinking and fatphobia. This study, which demonstrates thin readers’ tendencies to overidentify with protagonists, suggests ELA classrooms might encourage readers to engage in critical literacies that support them in reading both with and against their identities.

This study aims to investigate the possible defects and their root causes in a soft-termination multilayered ceramic capacitor (MLCC) when subjected to a thermal reflow process.

Specimens of the capacitor assembly were subjected to JEDEC level 1 preconditioning (85 °C/85%RH/168 h) with 5× reflow at 270°C peak temperature. Then, they were inspected using a 2 µm scanning electron microscope to investigate the evidence of defects. The reliability test was also numerically simulated and analyzed using the extended finite element method implemented in ABAQUS.

Excellent agreements were observed between the SEM inspections and the simulation results. The findings showed evidence of discontinuities along the Cu and the Cu-epoxy layers and interfacial delamination crack at the Cu/Cu-epoxy interface. The possible root causes are thermal mismatch between the Cu and Cu-epoxy layers, moisture contamination and weak Cu/Cu-epoxy interface. The maximum crack length observed in the experimentally reflowed capacitor was measured as 75 µm, a 2.59% difference compared to the numerical prediction of 77.2 µm.

This work's contribution is expected to reduce the additional manufacturing cost and lead time in investigating reliability issues in MLCCs.

Despite the significant number of works on the reliability assessment of surface mount capacitors, work on crack growth in soft-termination MLCC is limited. Also, the combined experimental and numerical investigation of reflow-induced reliability issues in soft-termination MLCC is limited. These cited gaps are the novelties of this study.