FAIRCHILD AN-9037

AN-9037
Assembly Guidelines for 8x8 MLP DriverMOS Packaging
By Dennis Lang
INTRODUCTION
The Fairchild 8x8 DriverMOS package is based on
Molded Leadless Packaging (MLP) technology.
This technology has been increasingly used in
packaging for power related products due to its
low package height, excellent thermal performance
with large thermal pads in the center of the
package which solder directly to the printed wiring
board (PWB) and allow modularity in package
design, single and multi-die packages are within the
capability of MLP technology.
The 8x8 DriverMOS has three large die attach
pads allowing direct soldering to the PWB for best
thermal and electrical performance. These three
pads are the high and low side MOSFETs and the
driver. The 8x8 DriverMOS is designed to be
used in high current synchronous buck DC-DC
circuits, saving board space and component count
by integrating several functions into one package.
This application note focuses on the soldering and
back end processing of the 8x8 MLP. Circuit
design considerations will be addressed in another
application note.
BOARD MOUNTING
The solder joint and pad design are the most
important factors in creating a reliable assembly.
The pad must be designed to the proper
dimensions to allow for tolerances in PWB
fabrication and pick and place, and also to allow
for proper solder fillet formation where applicable.
MLP packages, when the pre-plated lead-frame is
sawn, show bare copper on the end of the exposed
side leads. This is normal, and is addressed by IPC
JEDEC J-STD-001C “Bottom Only Termination”.
However, it has been found that optimized PWB
pad design and a robust solder process will
typically yield solder fillets to the ends of the lead
due to the cleaning action of the flux in the solder
paste.
Figure 2: Exposed copper on package edge from
singulation process.
PWB DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
Figure 1: Bottom side view showing pads for 8x8
DriverMOS.
Any land pad pattern must take into account the
various tolerances involved in production of the
PWB and the assembly operations required for
soldering the MLP onto the PWB. These factors
have already been taken into consideration on the
recommended footprint given on the datasheet. It
is recommended the customer follow this
footprint to assure best assembly and ultimately
reliability performance, as well as from a thermal
performance.
PAD FINISH
If through hole vias are used, a drill size of 0.3mm
with 1 ounce copper plating yields good
performance. With through-hole vias, solder
wicking through the hole, or solder protrusion,
must be considered. In high reliability applications,
filled vias are the preferred due to lower incidences
of voiding during reflow and eliminating the stress
riser created by a void at the edges of the via barrel.
The most frequently encountered pad finish for
consumer electronics with tin lead solders was hot
air solder leveled, HASL. With lead free, other
finishes are preferred.
Immersion silver,
immersion nickel gold and organic surface
protectant, OSP is the board finishes of choice.
Each finish has useful properties, and each has its
challenges. It is beyond the scope of this paper to
debate each system’s merits. Not any one finish
will be right for all applications, but currently the
most commonly seen in large scale consumer
electronics is OSP. A high quality OSP like
Enthone® Entek® Plus HT is recommended.
PWB MATERIAL
It is recommended that lead free FR-4 is used in
PWB construction. Lower quality FR-4 can cause
numerous problems with the reflow temperatures
seen when using lead free solder. IPC-4101B
“Specification for Base Materials for Rigid and
Multilayer Printed Boards” contains further
information on choosing the correct PWB material
for the intended application.
USING VIAS WITH 8X8 MLP
Often the designer will wish to place vias inside of
the three thermal pads. While this is acceptable,
the user should realize that vias often create
voiding, and should carefully study the process
design with x-ray inspection of voiding to assure
the design is yielding the expected performance.
There are several types of via. Blind vias are not
recommended due to the fact they often trap gases
generated during reflow and yield high percentages
of voiding. Solder mask can also be placed over
the top of the via to prevent solder from wicking
down the via. It has been shown in previous
studies that this will also create a higher incidence
of voiding than an open through-hole or filled via.
Figure 3: PWB pad showing OSP pad finish
and vias.
STENCIL DESIGN
It is estimated that 60% of all assembly errors are
due to paste printing. For a robust manufacturing
process, it is therefore the most critical phase of
assembly. Due to the importance of the stencil
design, many stencil types were tried to determine
the optimal stencil design for the recommended
footprint pad, on a typical application board with
Organic Surface Protectant (OSP) surface finish,
thermal vias, on FR-4. Solder paste coverage for
the thermal pads was printed ranging from 50-65%
coverage. To allow gases to escape during reflow
it is recommended that the paste be deposited in a
grid allowing “channels” for gases to vent. It was
found that 52% coverage yielded good void
performance, while maintaining good standoff
height. The paste was printed from a 5 mil thick
stainless steel stencil.
Various other stencil
apertures can be used, such as circles, but were not
studied here. The paste is printed on the outer
pins with a slightly reduced ratio to the PWB pad.
Per IPC-7525 “Stencil Design Guidelines” gives a
formula for calculating the area ratio for paste
release prediction:
Area Ratio =
Area of Pad
Area of Aperture Walls
=
L *W
2 * (L * W ) * T
Where L is the length, W the width, and T the
thickness of the stencil. When using this equation,
an Area Ratio >0.66 should yield acceptable paste
release. The recommended stencil apertures can
be found in the appendix.
REFLOW PROFILE
The optimum reflow profile used for every
product and oven is different. Even the same
brand and model oven in a different facility may
require a different profile. The proper ramp and
soak rates are determined by the solder paste
vendor for their products.
Obtaining this
information from the paste vendor is highly
recommended. If one is using a KIC® profiler,
downloading the latest paste library from KIC®
will yield ramp rate and soak times at temperature
for most commonly used solder pastes. The
Fairchild 8x8 MLP is rated for 260ºC peak
temperature reflow. Below is a sample reflow
profile used for building demonstration boards.
Attached in the appendix is a reflow profile
example. This profile is provided for reference
only; different PWBs, ovens and pastes will change
this profile, perhaps dramatically.
VOIDING
Figure 4: Printed Solder Paste.
SOLDER PASTE
The 8x8MLP is a RoHS compliant and lead free
package. The lead finish is NiPdAu. Any standard
lead free no clean solder paste commonly used in
the industry should work with this package. The
IPC Solder Products Value Council has
recommended that the lead free alloy, 96.5
Sn/3.0Au/0.5Cu, commonly known as SAC 305,
is “…the lead free solder paste alloy of choice for
the electronics industry”. Type 3 no-clean paste,
SAC 305 alloy, was used for the construction of
the boards studied to optimize the process.
Voiding is a very controversial topic in the
industry currently. The move to lead free solders,
due to various governmental regulations, has
created intense study in the area of solders, solder
joints and reliability effects. There are varying
viewpoints on the effect of vias and allowable
quantity.
There are several types of voids
however; we will divide them into two classes,
macro-voids, and micro-voids.
Macro-voids could also be called process voids.
Macro voids are the large sized voids commonly
seen on x-ray during inspection. These voids are
due to process design/control issues, or PWB
design issues. All of the parameters discussed in
this application note will effect macro-voiding.
Most standards that currently exist, such as IPC610D specifically address void criteria for BGA,
and limit it to 25%. This standard is for macrovoiding.
Fairchild has done several studies of the amount of
voiding in various types of components with large
thermal pads, and the effect on reliability. It was
found that components with 25% voiding or less
had acceptable reliability performance in package
qualification temperature cycling. Fairchild gives
the customer the guideline of 25% voiding for
MLP type packages.
REWORK
Due to the high temperatures associated with lead
free reflow, it is recommended that this
component not be reused if rework becomes
necessary. The MLP should be removed from the
PWB with hot air. After removal, the 8x8 MLP
should be discarded. The solder remnants should
be removed from the pad with a solder vacuum or
solder wick, the pads cleaned and new paste
printed with a mini stencil. Localized hot air can
then be applied to reflow the solder and make the
joint. Due to the thermal performance of this
component, and the typical high performance
PWB it will be mounted on, quite a bit of heat
energy will be necessary. Heating of the PWB may
be helpful for the rework process.
BOARD LEVEL RELIABILITY
Figure 5: X-ray image showing voiding caused by
vias in pad.
There are also several forms of micro-voiding,
namely planar micro voids and Kirkendall voids.
The mechanism of void creation is different for
each; however both are practically undetectable by
x-ray inspection. Both types are also currently the
subject of several in-depth studies; however, none
have confirmed theories of creation.
Planar micro voids, or “champagne voids” occur
at the PWB land to solder joint interface. There
are several theories on the mechanism that creates
planar micro voids, but there is not a confirmed
root cause. Planar micro voids are a risk for
reliability failures.
Kirkendall voids are created at the interface of two
dissimilar metals at higher temperatures. In the
case of solder attachments, at the pad to joint
intermetallic layer. They are not due to the reflow
process; Kirkendall voids are created by electromigration in assemblies that spend large amounts
of time above 100ºC.
There is currently
conflicting evidence whether Kirkendall voids are
a reliability risk or not.
As mentioned previously, per JDC-STD-001D a
solder fillet is not required on the side of the lead
for this package. But it has been found through
modeling and temperature cycling that a solder
fillet on the lead end can improve reliability. An
improvement of 20% can be expected with this
fillet. It was also found that if the fillet only wets
halfway up the side of the lead, this reliability
enhancement is still attained. Through process
control these fillets are often created.
As part of the standard reliability testing this
package was temperature cycled from -10 to 100C.
There could be no failures in the sample set at
1000 cycles to pass the test.
WORKS CITED
[1] Aspandiar, Raiyo, “Voids in Solder Joints,”
SMTA Northwest Chapter Meeting,
September 21, 2005, Intel Corporation
[2] Bryant, Keith, “Investigating Voids,”
Circuits Assembly, June 2004
[3] Comley, David, et al, “The QFN: Smaller,
Faster and Less Expensive,” Chip Scale
Review.com, August/September 2002
[4] Englemaier, Werner, “Voids in solder
joints-reoliability,” Global SMT & Package,
December 2005
[5] IPC Solder Products Value Council,
“Round Robin Testing and Analysis of
Lead Free Solder Pastes with Alloys of Tin,
Silver and Copper,” 2005
[6] IPC-A-610-D, “Acceptance of Electronic
Assemblies,” February 2005
[7] IPC J-STD-001D, “Requirements for
Soldered Electrical and Electronic
Assemblies,”
[8] IPC-SM-7525A,
“Stencil
Design
Guidelines,” May 2000
[9] JEDEC, JESD22-B102D, “Solderability,”
VA, Sept. 2004
[10]
Syed, Ahmer, et al, “Board Level
Assembly and Reliability Considerations
for QFN Type Packages,” Amkor
Technology, Inc., Chandler, AZ
Applicable FSIDs: FDMF8700, FDMF8704, FDMF8704V, FDMF8705
APPENDIX
Dimensioned Stencil Apertures
Reflow profile used for building demonstration boards.