Design and Reliability Analysis of Wafer Level Package With Bubble-Like Buffer Layer

In order to enhance the wafer level package (WLP, Figure 1) reliability for larger chip size, many different kinds of WLP have been adopted, all have a compliant layer under the pads have to relieve the thermal stress of the solder joint. Usually, the solder joint reliability is enhanced with the increase of the thickness of the compliant layer. However, the fabrication processes of the WLP restrict the thickness of the compliant layer. With that in mind this research proposed a novel WLP package with bubble-like buffer layer (Figure 2) which is composed of a bubble-like plate and a buffer layer between the chip and the solder joint. The main goal of this research was to study the effects of the geometric dimensions and material properties of the bubble-like layer on the reliability of the WLP. For the parametric analysis purpose, a 2-D nonlinear finite element analysis for the proposed WLP was conducted. The results revealed that both the bubble-like plate and the buffer layer provide excellent compliant effects. However, the buffer layer has a more significant effect on enhancing the solder joint reliability. Also, for a WLP with buffer structure, the effect of the chip thickness on the reliability could be significantly reduced. In addition, the difference between the filled and non-filled buffer layers also affected the reliability of the solder joint. The results revealed that the WLP with the buffer layer and the no-fill bubble-like plate had the better reliability.