Tag Archives: BGA

Favorites

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What’s your favorite MCU package and why?

  • The DIP is big and easy to use. You can stick it in a breadboard (wireless or soldered), a socket or easily hand solder it. But, it tends to be more expensive and takes up more real estate.
  • SOIC is a good step down in size. It can be machine soldered. It’s big enough that most people can hand solder in a pinch. But, as an SMT, I’m not sure it has much purpose anymore. If there’s an SSOP available for the same part, why would you take the bigger SOIC package?
  • SSOP are nice and small so that, unless you are really tight on space, they’ll do just fine. They aren’t really any more difficult to layout than and SOIC. If you do need to hand-solder, this package is probably too small. Being smaller with everything else being equal, it might have more issues with heat dissipation than the bigger part or a smaller one with a heat slug under it.
  • QFP – these are just lie either an SOIC or SSOP, but with leads on four sides.
  • BGAs are really compact and and do a good job of keeping signals close to the PCB and to bypass caps. They can be a challenge to layout though. Many will require upping your layer count. The really fine pitch BGAs may require expensive PCB features such as blind or buried vias. CSP and wafer-scale BGAs can be more difficult to handle because of their small size. Breathing on them wrong can toss them around like dust.
  • QFN and DFNs are somewhat newcomers to the scene. The package can lead to some very tiny components. It’s great for signal cleanliness and the heat slug underneath can dissipate (with proper layout) a lot of heat. But, QFNs and DFNs seem to garner the most layout problems. Careful use of thermal vias is critical for maximum performance, but you either have to use expensive techniques, such as filled and plated vias, or you have to rationalize and get around some nearly mutually-exclusive requirements.

Yeah. They all have their pluses and minuses. Fortunately, with proper board design, our SMT machines can place all of the these types all day long without breaking a sweat. All the SMT designs, that is. We do hand place the DIPs. What’s your preference?

Duane Benson
All we are is BGAs in the wind

http://blog.screamingcircuits.com/

Picking Packages

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A long, long time ago, in a place pretty close to here, picking a form factor was easy. Your CPU came in a 40 pin DIP. Your logic came in 14 or 16 bit dips. You picked resistor sizes based on their current carrying needs. Transistors and other power components got a little more difficult, but not much. It was largely a matter of power dissipation requirements.

Different story now, though. First, there’s through-hole vs. SMT. Then there’s a plethora of options beyond that. So, what really matters? A specific resistor size may come in multiple wattages. Chips come in multiple packages — often from big DIPs all the way down to tiny QFN or BGA packages. Let’s look at a few examples.

Here’s a simple microcontroller: the PIC18F25K22. It’s a pretty typical 8-bit PIC. You can purchase it in four different packages:

  • DIP, $2.05 each, Qty 100, Tube
  • SSOP, $1.86 each, Qty 100, Tube
  • SSOP, $1.90 each, Qty 2,100, Tape & reel
  • QFN, $1.86 each, Qty 100, Tube
  • SOIC $1.89 each, Qty 1,600, Tube
  • SOIC $1.93 each, Qty 1,600, Tape & reel

(DigiKey prices as of the posting date. Some are non-stock items.) There’s also the part presentation to consider; e.g., reel, cut tape, tube.

Next, look at a 1K resistor that might be used as a pull-up. (As listed in DigiKey) through-hole resistors range from 1/20W up to multiple watt packages. SMT parts range from 1/32W up to lots. Simplifying a bit and just looking at 1/4W, you can purchase 0402, 0603, 0805 and 1206 packages. For high volumes, price will be a factor, but for lower volumes, the price difference can be trivial.

If you have plenty of space to work with and you need to build by hand or for some reason need a socketed part, your choice is the DIP. If space is a bit of an issue and you may or may not hand build, then an SOIC is probably your pick. Some people will hand build QFNs and SSOP packages, but that’s not realistic in anything but rare cases.

When size, speed, current or performance need to be at maximums, selection is still not that difficult. You’ll often have far fewer options to choose from at the performance edges. But when there’s headroom all over the place, how do you decide? Why an SOIC over an SSOP over an QFN? Why 0603 over 0402, 0805 or 1206?

Duane Benson
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled PIC packages.

http://blog.screamingcircuits.com/

Bouncing BGAs

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I dropped my cellphone on the pavement the other day. That’s bad enough, but in my instinctive attempt to catch it, I actually hit it and increased its downward velocity. Luckily, everything still works. The odd thing is that I just assumed that it would still work. No real questions or doubts on that thought.

That realization got me thinking. (It happens now and then.) What other devices do I have that I automatically expect to survive a drop onto concrete? I have a carpenter’s hammer. I expect that to survive a drop intact. I would not expect my camera to survive such a drop intact, and have empirically verified that fact. A little car GPS? Probably not. Laptop; uh … no.

I’m sure there are some other devices that would easily survive. I just can’t think of any off the top of my head. I suspect that there are a lot of factors that go into making cellphones survivable. The case, the overall mass, the quality of solder joints.

Along those lines, some folks use an underfill glueish type substance to hold BGAs more securely. Some designers use pick and placeable solid underfill. Some just rely on extra good soldering and some leave it to luck. Of course, not all BGA installations require much shock resistance. How do you secure your parts when shock or vibration are serious concerns?

Duane Benson
Quick, where’s Henry? I need an inductor.

Nightmare on BGA Street

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I seem to be in a bit of a BGA mood lately. I do that sometimes – pick a subject and talk it to death before moving on. Well, maybe not quite talk it to death, but at least talk it to the pain.

9x13 via in pad BGA land Take a look at this land pattern for a bluetooth module. Anyone see anything odd? Yeah. All of those really big open vias. I know what the designer was trying to do. A good number of the vias are ground connections of one sort or another that need to be connected to an internal ground plane layer.

Given that is is a 1 mm pitch BGA, there is plenty of room to put the vias between the pads and not cause any trouble. That would be one recommended approach. The other would be to have the vias filled and plated over at the board house. No matter what you do, though, the vias can’t be left wide open like this. It’s a real bummer.

Duane Benson
B.V.O.U.S.’s? BGA Vias Of Unusual Size. I don’t think they exist.

http://blog.screamingcircuits.com/

BGA Woes

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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

http://blog.screamingcircuits.com/

A Bit More On the LGA

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After my last post about LGA land patterns, I received a couple of questions asking for more detail in a few areas.

The LinearTech  LGA apnote (LTM46xx series) shows planes on the mounting layer interconnecting pads that are solder mask-defined. This is supposed to be for heat dissipation. Will smaller copper-defined pads and vias to full internal copper ground and power planes provide adequate cooling?

What about using LGAs on the same layer as BGAs? BGAs have copper-defined pads? We’ve been sending 1:1 soldermask gerbers to the fab house so they can adjust per their process. Can this be done selectively so the SMD LGA pads don’t grow bigger? What kind of Fab Note should be in the “Readme” file?

Also, please warn LGA users to be careful using wizards (e.g., Pads Layout) to generate the pad numbering. Linear Tech’s LGA does NOT follow the standard BGA alpha numeric numbering. I don’t know about other LGA manufacturers’ numbering systems but … double-check the pad numbering and avoid this nasty snake bite!”

First, as far as cooling goes, the answer, unfortunately is “it depends on how closely to the limits you are driving to part.” You will get best results with more surface copper. That said, you can use vias to internal and back-side planes to increase heat dissipation. Ideally, you would have lots of surface copper and vias to the internal and back side planes, but that’s not always possible. The vias that are not under the LGA pads can be left open. Any vias in an area to be soldered must not be left open. Ideally, you would have them filled with a thermally conductive material and plated over. You do have some flexibility to reduce the surface copper and replace it with vias to other planes, but ultimately, the final answer will only come from your design testing.

You can have NSMD and SMD pads on the same PCB. How to do it is the big question here. Many fab shops will make their own decision on what is “best” for your PCB in this regard. I would speak with the board house and get its recommendations on how best to specify what you need in terms of NSMD and SMD mixed. You’ll probably have to follow a slightly different procedure for each different fab shop.

I would double-echo the comment about using caution when using wizards to create a land pattern. Not all manufacturers follow the same numbering scheme. You could get bitten badly with this one.

Duane Benson
Who was that soldermask defined man?

http://blog.screamingcircuits.com/

0.4mm Pitch BGA Redux

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I’ve written about it before, and again here.

When dealing with new technology parts, it’s really important to look up all of the manufacturer’s component information that is available. I’m going to quote from the Texas Instruments document “PCB Design Guidelines for 0.4mm Package-On-Package (PoP) Packages,” Section 10 (PDF page 8):

Industry reliability studies have revealed that NSMD-type pads are highly recommended for most 0.5mm pitch BGA applications. However, there is a problem with this approach at 0.4 mm pitch.

Real-world assembly experiments with the BeagleBoard and the OMAP35x EVM revealed a tendency for solder bridging between pads when NSMD were used. There was insufficient solder mask webbing between the pads to ward off bridging. Therefore, a SMD design was used which resulted in much better assembly yields with no solder bridging.

If you are using a 0.4 mm pitch BGA with the balls aligned in a grid (as opposed to staggered), read the design guidlines from the manufacturer before laying out the board.

In a presentation about the development of the Beagleboard, Gerald Coley, Beagleboard designer, notes that their first two runs had non soldermask defined pads, resulting in a 10% yield. After another run of PCBs where the pads on the PCB were the same size as the pads on the device and the PCB pads were soldermask defined, yields rose to 96%. And verify that your PCB house does in fact follow your instructions. Some will think they know better and will change the mask layout.

If you are still unsure or think your design will have different requirements, call an applications engineer at the component manufacturer and discuss your project and the layout.

Duane Benson
Trust but verify

http://blog.screamingcircuits.com/

Follow the BGA

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At the Embedded Systems Conference in September, I had a number of folks ask me about mixing leaded and lead-free components on a PCB. It’s a difficult situation for some people — especially when using old and very new BGA form-factor components.

We generally tell people to follow the BGA. Since the BGA has those little solder balls on it, it’s the most sensitive to temperature as far as soldering is concerned. Reflow a leaded BGA at no-lead temperatures and the flux may all burn off and the solder may sag down too far and bridge or dry and crack. Do the reverse and reflow a no-lead BGA at leaded temps and you won’t get a good intermetallic mix and the solder joint will be prone to cracking and other bad stuff.

In most cases no-lead components, other than BGAs can be used on a leaded board. Going the other way isn’t always so easy though, because of the additional 20 C in the no-lead process. Everything’s more sensitive to moisture absorption, so baking parts or keeping them sealed in moisture-free packaging is more important. Some components may melt, especially chip LEDs. And metal can capacitors can pop.

In a prototype world, where you just need to see if something works, you can sometimes get away with a lot more than you can in production, but it’s still not an easy question to answer. Unfortunately, if you’re in the situation of one of the guys that asked about it and have one leaded BGA and one no-lead BGA, you may have to get one of the BGAs reballed or you may just need to redesign on of them out. No easy answer there.

Duane Benson
My 24 hours is almost come
When I to sulphrous and tormenting flames
Must reflow up myself