Quite a few of the new chips I see coming out stick to the BGA or QFN form-factor. Sometimes they’ll be referred to as WSP (wafer scale package) or CSP (chip scale package), but those are still just little BGAs. Some do show up in larger packages, but many of the really new designs seem to stick to these form-factors.
A few years back, we tended to see a lot of design problems related to regular, big BGAs (0.8 mm or greater pitch). Things like black pad, microvoids and via in pad cropped up to cause proto-headaches. While those problems still show up from time to time, they have become much less frequent. No, we’re seeing issues with the tiny ones — 0.5 and 0.4 mm BGAs, CSPs and WSPs.
With a big BGA, you can route to vias in between the pads. That’s easy. With the small ones, especially 0.4mm, you can’t. You have to put the vias in the pads. Of course, you have to fill and plate over the vias. Big BGAs tend to prefer non-soldermask defined pads (NSMD) while some of the 0.4 mm BGAs require soldermask-defined (SMD) pads. A really flat surface is more important for the tiny parts too. Don’t fear extra small parts, but you may need to do a bit more homework and relearn a few old rules-of-thumb.
Duane Benson
I’m solderin, I’m solderin, I’m solderin for you