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The Mechanics and Impact

E. H. Wong of Hygroscopic Swelling
e-mail: eehua@ime.org.sg

R. Rajoo
of Polymeric Materials
S. W. Koh in Electronic Packaging
T. B. Lim A reliable technique for characterizing the hygroscopic swelling of materials has been
developed and used to characterize a number of packaging materials. Using these data,
Institute of Microelectronics, hygroscopic stress modeling were performed. The hygroscopic stress induced through
11 Science Park Road, moisture conditioning was found to be significant compared to the thermal stress during
Science Park II, solder reflow. Hygroscopic stress in over-molded wire bond PBGA and molded Flip Chip
Singapore 117685 PBGA was found to be 1.3 times to 1.5 times that of thermal stress. Hygroscopic swelling
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of the underfill in FCPBGA was found to be the main failure driver during autoclave test.
Autoclave performance of FCPBGA package assembled with different underfills and chips
were analyzed. Excellent correlation was found between autoclave performance and the
hygroscopic swelling characteristics of the underfills. 关DOI: 10.1115/1.1461367兴
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1 Introduction • Extract dimensional change (⌬L) and moisture weight loss

(⌬M ) of the specimen at the same desorption interval
Polymeric materials swell upon absorbing moisture. Differen-
• Plot dimensional strain, ␧⫽⌬L/L, versus moisture concen-
tial swelling occurs between the polymeric and nonpolymeric ma-
tration, C⫽⌬M /V, where V is the volume of the specimen
terials, as well as among the polymeric materials constituting the
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electronic packages. This differential swelling induces hygro-
scopic stress in the package that adds to the thermal stress at high
reflow temperature, raising the susceptibility of package to pop-
corn cracking 关1–5兴. This is depicted in Fig. 1. Despite this, hy-
groscopic stress has been largely ignored in the analysis of pack-
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The curve defines the relation between hygroscopic swelling and
moisture content 共Fig. 2兲. If a linear relation exists between the
two then a constant of linearity, coefficient of moisture expansion
共␤兲, can be defined mathematically as

aging stress. This is attributed to the following hindrance: ␧

␤⫽ (1)
C
• Lack of characterization technique
• Lack of material hygroscopic swelling characteristics where ␧ is the hygroscopic strain and C the moisture concentra-
• Unfamiliarity with moisture diffusion and hygroscopic stress tion. The instantaneous moisture concentration, and hence hygro-
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modeling
• Under estimation of the magnitude of hygroscopic stress.
These hindrances have been comprehensively resolved and pre-
scopic strain, will not be uniform throughout the specimen. How-
ever, it can be easily verified 共Appendix兲 that the use of uniform
strain (␧⫽⌬L/L) and moisture concentration (C⫽⌬M /V) in Eq.
共1兲 is valid so long as 共a兲 the moisture distribution in the two
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sented in detail in this paper. The significance of hygroscopic
stress was demonstrated through:
• Hygrothermal stress analysis of three IC packages of varied
specimens measured with TMA and TGA, respectively, are iden-
tical throughout the experiment; and 共b兲 if a linear relation exists
between hygroscopic strain and moisture concentration. The coef-
ficient of moisture expansion, ␤, characterized is therefore inde-
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construction, materials, and size subjected to moisture sensi-

tivity test. pendent of specimen thickness. This characterization technique
• Autoclave test analysis of a flip chip vehicle assembled with offers the following features:
different underfills and chips.
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• Use of standard instruments—encourages and facilitates user-

friendly and low-cost implementation
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• Continuous measurement—complete and reliable data

2 Hygroscopic Swelling Characterization Technique
The technique was developed on two standard thermal analysis
instruments, namely thermal mechanical analyzer 共TMA兲 and
thermal gravitational analyzer 共TGA兲. The procedure involves:
• Moisture condition, and saturate if possible, two identical
specimens under the same temperature and humidity for equal
duration.
• Desorp moisture from the specimens isothermally in TMA
and TGA, respectively; use the same ramp-up rate for the two
instruments in order to maintain identical moisture distribution in
the specimens.
Contributed by the Electronic and Photonic Packaging Division for publication in
the JOURNAL OF ELECTRONIC PACKAGING. Manuscript received by the EPPD Oc-
tober 5, 2000. Associate Editor: S. M. Heinrich.
• High accuracy 共microgram in weight and submicrometer in
dimension兲—capable of handling small specimen
• High temperature characterization—an important requirement
for hygroscopic stress modeling during solder reflow.
3 Hygroscopic Swelling Characteristics of Packaging
Materials
The hygroscopic swelling characteristics of a typical mold com-
pound are presented in Fig. 3. Note the linear relation between
hygroscopic swelling and moisture content, which holds true over
a range of temperature. This is generally true for all IC packaging
materials, including die attach, underfill, and BT substrate. It is
this linearity that endorses the use of a single physical parameter,
␤, to characterize hygroscopic swelling of materials as described

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Fig. 4 CME of packaging materials as a function of

temperature
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Fig. 1 Hygroscopic swelling raises package stress during

solder reflow
4 Moisture Diffusion and Hygro-Mechanical Modeling
Knowledge of moisture distribution within the package is
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needed for hygroscopic stress modeling. This can be best done

through moisture diffusion modeling. Most commercial FE soft-
in Eq. 共1兲. The coefficient of moisture expansion, CME 共␤兲, of
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ware is not equipped with moisture diffusion modeling capability.

common packaging materials have been characterized and pre-
sented in Fig. 4. Observations:
1 CME of packaging materials differs significantly which is the
origin of hygroscopic mismatch and stress in IC packaging.
2 CME of packaging materials generally increases with tem-
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But with an appropriate thermal-moisture analogy, moisture diffu-
sion can be modeled using the thermal diffusion function of the
software. The analogous technique for a homogeneous material
system 关6兴 has recently been extended to a multi-material system
关7兴 so as to enable modeling of advanced packages. The FEA

perature. implementation scheme is presented in Table 1, where wetness is

defined as W⫽C/C sat, C is the moisture concentration, C sat is
the saturated moisture concentration, and D the moisture diffusion
coefficient. An example of FEA moisture diffusion modeling of a
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PBGA package is illustrated in Fig. 5.

With the knowledge of moisture distribution in the package, as
well as the hygroscopic swelling characteristic of the materials,
hygroscopic stress in the package can be readily computed
through hygro-mechanical modeling. A simple thermal-hygro
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Table 1 FEA thermal-moisture analogy for moisture diffusion

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modeling of multi-material system

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Fig. 2 Setup and technique for characterization of hygro-

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scopic swelling property of material

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Fig. 3 Linear relation between swelling and moisture Fig. 5 Moisture distribution in PBGA package „quarter model…
content—demonstrated with a typical mold compound after 168 hr at 85°CÕ85%RH

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Table 2 FEA thermal-hygro analogy for hygro-mechanical
modeling
analogy has been developed 共Table 2兲 so that hygro-mechanical
modeling can be performed using the thermo-mechanical function
of commercial FEA.
5 Significance of Hygroscopic Stress
The significance of hygroscopic stress on the moisture sensitiv-
ity and autoclave performance of electronic packages has been
comprehensively studied.
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Moisture Sensitivity Performance During Solder Reflow.
The moisture sensitivity performance of three types of packages—
MQFP 160, wire bonded PBGA, and flip chip PBGA—were ana-
lyzed. The packages were subjected to moisture sensitivity test at
JEDEC moisture sensitivity level 2 and 3 to induce failure. The
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critical sites where failure first initiated where identified through
detail failure analysis 共Fig. 6兲; these are:
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• MQFP: The corners of die pad to mold compound interface
• Wire bonded PBGA: the Au-plated power and ground rings
with mold compound interface
• Flip chip PBGA: the corners of die to underfill interface
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The thermal and hygroscopic stresses at the critical sites of
these packages have been evaluated and the in-plane shear stress
is tabulated in Table 3. The hygroscopic stress has been normal-
ized with thermal stress for relative comparison. Thermal stress
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Fig. 6 Critical sites of three types of packages
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Table 3 Normalized thermal stress versus hygroscopic stress
„in-plane shear stress…
was evaluated from molding temperature 175°C to reflow tem-
perature 220°C. Hygroscopic stress was evaluated after moisture
conditioned at moisture sensitivity 共M.S.兲 Level 2 共85°C/60%RH/
168 hr兲 and Level 3 共30°C/60%RH/192 hr兲, respectively. Note:
共a兲 Thermal stress is dominant in the leaded package with hy-
groscopic stress constituting about 15% of the system 共hygrother-
mal兲 stress at M.S. Level 3 moisture precondition.
共b兲 Hygroscopic stress, on the other hand, is clearly dominant
in the molded laminate substrate packages—30% to 50% higher
than thermal stress at M.S. Level 3 moisture precondition; and
more than double that of thermal stress when moisture precondi-
tioned to M.S. Level 2.
Typical thermal and hygroscopic stress as well as deformation
contours of wire bonded PBGA package are depicted in Fig. 7. It
is important that hygroscopic stress be evaluated, together with
thermal stress, when analyzing the moisture sensitivity perfor-
mance of the packages.
Autoclave Performance of Flip Chip Assembly. The nor-
malized autoclave test 共121°C/100%RH兲 life of a flip chip PBGA
package with 3 different UBM 共under bump metallization兲 sys-
tems, assembled with and without underfill, is tabulated in Table 4
关8兴. While the presence of underfill can enhance moderately the
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autoclave life of the flip chip package for some UBM system, it
can do much more harm for other UBM systems. In the case of
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Fig. 7 Hygrothermal stresses and displacement contours of
wire bonded PBGA package during moisture sensitivity test
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Table 4 Normalized autoclave performance of different UBM,
with and without underfill
UBM-B, the presence of underfill has drastically reduced the au-
toclave life to 30% that without underfill. This has been attributed
to the hygroscopic swelling of the underfill resulting in tensile
loading on the UBM as well as the solder bump 共Fig. 8兲.
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A quantitative comparison of the impacts of hygroscopic swell-
ing of six underfills on flip chip package’s autoclave life is tabu-
lated in Table 5. Note:
共a兲 The autoclave life correlates very well with the transverse
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hygroscopic strain induced by the underfill—high hygroscopic
strain corresponds with low autoclave life. Both underfill C and D
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with the worse autoclave performance experienced the largest hy-
groscopic swelling.
共b兲 Thermal transverse strain is compressive in nature and its
magnitude is an order lower than that of the hygroscopic strain—
hygroscopic strain, not thermal strain, is the dominant failure
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driver
These experimental as well as analysis results underline the im-
portance of underfill hygroscopic swelling on autoclave perfor-
mance of flip chip assemblies.
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6 Discussion
Mechanics of Hygroscopic Swelling. Hygroscopic swelling
is similar to thermal expansion in that both are physical phenom-
ena involving molecules equilibrating at a larger distance apart as
a result of temperature increase and moisture absorption, respec-
tively. In both cases, the magnitude of expansion is solely gov-
erned and can be fully described by a single physical property—
coefficient of thermal expansion and coefficient of moisture
expansion, respectively. This similarity between thermal expan-
sion and hygroscopic swelling forms the basic for the hygro-
mechanical modeling technique described in Section 3.
An alternative postulation based on solid mechanics has been
proposed 关9兴. Swelling was attributed to the vapor pressure within
the microvoids of the polymer resisted only by the modulus of the
Fig. 8 Hygroscopic swelling induced tensile failure in auto-
clave testing of flip chip PBGA package
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Table 5
polymer. The vapor pressure increases by 550 times 共from ther-
modynamics兲 while the modulus of packaging materials generally
decrease by 10 times as temperature is raised from 30°–220°C.
Hence, the solid mechanics approach would suggest a three to
four order of increase in swelling correspond to the raising of
temperature. Actual CME measurement, on the other hand,
showed increase of less than an order 共Fig. 4兲.
Failure Mechanism in Autoclave Test. Underfill in flip chip
assemblies undergoing an autoclave test plays both positive and
negative roles.
• Positive role: It lowers the corrosion rate by impeding mois-
ture diffusion toward the UBM system, the critical site.
• Negative role: it raises the transverse stress acting to separate
the UBM through hygroscopic swelling.
It is clear from the test results that the negative role of underfill
out-weighs its positive role in many instances.
The strong presence of hygroscopic swelling induced stress has
introduced a new failure mechanism—stress corrosion cracking
关10兴; that is, cracking in the presence of stress and corrosion
agents. This new failure mechanism deviates from the original
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intent of the autoclave test 关11兴. Similar observation was also
observed in the 85°C/85%RH damp-heat test 关12兴. A review of the
feasibility of these tests for accelerated corrosion testing of flip
chip assembly with underfill is suggested.
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7 Conclusions
Hygroscopic stress is a significant failure driver in IC packages
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that has been ignored for too long. The impacts of hygroscopic
stress have been convincingly demonstrated through:
共a兲 moisture sensitivity analysis of 3 packages—the magnitude
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of hygroscopic stress in molded wire bonded PBGA and molded
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flip chip PBGA was found to be significantly higher than that of
thermal stress.
共b兲 autoclave analysis of flip chip PBGA with 3 UBM systems
and 6 underfills—the autoclave life of the flip chip package can be
severely degraded by hygroscopic swelling of the underfill.
The procedures for hygroscopic stress modeling have been
comprehensively established and presented. These include hygro-
scopic characterization technique, hygroscopic swelling character-
istics of packaging materials, moisture diffusion and hygro-
mechanical modeling techniques.
Acknowledgment
This work is the result of a project initiated by the IME Elec-
tronic Packaging Research Consortium 1999, the members of
which were Advanced Micro Devices 共Singapore兲 Pte Ltd, Agilent
Technologies Singapore Pte Ltd, Gul Technologies Singapore Ltd,
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Hitachi Chemical Asia-Pacific Pte Ltd, Infineon Technologies
共Asia Pacific兲 Pte Ltd, Institute of Microelectronics, Johnson Mat-
they 共Singapore兲 Pte Ltd, Lucent Technologies Microelectronics
Pte Ltd, Philips Singapore Pte Ltd, STMicroelectronics Pte Ltd,
ST Assembly Test Services Pte Ltd, Sumitomo Bakelite Singapore
Pte Ltd, and Micron Semiconductor Asia Pte Ltd.
Appendix: Proof of Independence of Characterized
CME on Specimen Thickness
The following work proves that despite the nonuniformity of
instantaneous moisture concentration and hygroscopic strain in
the test specimen, the coefficient of moisture expansion, CME,
obtained using average moisture concentration and hygroscopic
strain reflects the true material property that is independent of the
specimen thickness.
• Test Specimen: For ease of illustration, though not necessary,
the test specimen is assumed to have uniform cross-section with
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thickness H
• Moisture distribution: Assumed instantaneous moisture con-
centration along the thickness as CIF共z兲
• Hygroscopic strain: Assumed hygroscopic strain as a un-
known function of moisture concentration; i.e., ␧⫽ ␤ *C, then in-
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stantaneous strain along thickness is given as ␧⫽ ␤ * f (z)
• In the characterization experiment, the coefficient of moisture
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expansion 共CME兲 was obtained using Eq. 共1兲 based on average
moisture concentration and hygroscopic strain
0 ␧dz
␧ ave 兰 H 0 ␤ * f 共 z 兲 dz
兰H
CME⫽ ⫽ H ⫽ (A1)
C ave 兰 0 Cdz 兰H
0 f 共 z 兲 dz
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For all packaging materials characterized in the experiments, the
hygroscopic strain was found to be linearly proportional to the
moisture concentration, Eq. 共A1兲 becomes
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␧ ave
CME⫽ ⫽␤ (A2)
C ave
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