19/3/2561 -> A User's Guide to BGA Reballing

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Sunday, March 18, 2018 VOLUME - NUMBER

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PCB and AUTOMATION

Test and Automation

PCB and Test

A User's Guide to BGA Reballing
Test and Assembly
By Tim Hoffman, President,
SMT and Assembly HEPCO, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA
Reballing — it's a simple idea
Assembly and
Production — just put those little spheres
back on component pads. But
PCB and Production the reality is that it can be
very simple process or as
Assembly and
Production annoying as keeping your
Buffalo, NY driveway snow-
PCB and Assembly free throughout December —
an impossible task.
Assembly and
Packaging
Variety of typical BGAs.
There are several
PCB and Manufacturing unavoidable steps required to prepare used components for reballing, no
matter which method is used. First, the components must be pre-baked to
SMT and Production
ensure they're moisture-free before actually working on them. You can go
Test and Measurement with what the component manufacturer's spec says — if it can be found —
or simply use what one BGA reballing equipment supplier recommends:
Components and 125°F (51.66°C) for 8 hours. When experimenting with reflowing reballed,
Distribution
un-baked components on a hot plate some years ago, we had spheres
Production and flying everywhere as the component popcorned. "Popcorning" is a cute
Packaging way to say your BGA will be quickly and dramatically destroyed as
moisture inside becomes gaseous and delaminates the chip. Not a
desirable scenario.

Next, the original solder from

the pads must be removed.
This can be done using
solder wicking or a hot-air de-
soldering tool. The solder
wick method can work well,
but the technician needs to
avoid scratching or lifting the
pads and needs to avoid Result of "popcorning" from trapped moisture.
over-heating the component.
Hot air de-soldering systems (or solder suckers) are available on many
BGA rework stations and typically give good results. However, it's still
important to avoid scratching up the pads. No matter the method used, the
cleaner the pads, the better the result obtained with the reballing process.

While there are some fully-automated BGA reballing systems, the cost is
typically justified only for very high volumes, not a part of this discussion.

We're also going to omit the

surprisingly popular
alternative — where spheres
are individually placed onto
pads using tweezers and a
microscope. The level of
success for this technique is
directly related to the
operator's patience and
intake of coffee/tea/soda, and Inserting the preform.
possibly palsied hands. This
leaves three primary methods — Tilt and Roll; Preforms; and Vacuum

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Pick-Up.

Tilt and Roll. With most tilt and roll devices, flux is screen-printed onto the
pads. Sphere migration may be limited by printing on the pads only, but
some systems recommend covering the entire BGA pad side with flux
rather than a screen print method. The BGA is then placed under a screen
matching the component's sphere pattern. Some devices have the
spheres go through the screen and onto the pad and flux immediately.
Other devices have a stop plate of sorts to keep spheres from dropping
through. The operator would pour spheres onto the screen and tilt things
around until spheres drop into each aperture. It is very reminiscent of
those little games from childhood where you try to get all the BBs to rest in
the proper holes all at the same time.

Once the deposition process

is finished, the screen tilts to
an exit area and lets the
excess spheres go either
back into the sphere
container or trash. If reused,
there is a danger of flux being
on a sphere in the proper
hole location but coming back
out to get into the sphere Applying paste.
reservoir, where flux
contamination can cause a myriad of problems. With all spheres in
position, either the screen is lifted off and the spheres remain on the fluxed
pads or the restraining device is removed to let the spheres drop onto the
waiting component. A few, smaller tilt and roll mechanisms will leave the
stencil in place to try and hold the spheres during reflow. Tilt and roll
requires either one or two stencils — one for flux if applying to pads only,
and one for the sphere clearance. Each component pattern may have its
own stencil to limit labor and setup time.

Some manufacturers try to

use a generic pitch and
sphere size stencil and have
the operator try to cover any
unused apertures — usually
with Kapton tape. Problems
with tape residue have been
observed when used around
small BGA spheres, so this
can get rather messy in a Inserting BGA.
hurry.

While this method seems simple, there are increased labor costs when
compared to some other methods. There are tooling costs involved for the
stencils and for some level of mechanism. Also, time is needed to coerce
the spheres into their proper places.

Preforms. At least two sources are available to provide spheres in their

proper array. These use either water-soluble paper or polymer. A large
number of arrays are available, and the cost is low for small quantities
since there is minimal tooling cost. Both methods require additional
component cleaning with water and baking to dry the BGA again before
use.

With paper preforms, the preform is placed into a template that matches
the outside dimensions of both the preform and component. The BGA
surface is then covered with water-soluble paste flux and placed down
onto the preform. The two are reflowed together. After reflow, the charred
paper is peeled off and the BGA is scrubbed with a brush and DI water to
remove remaining paper remnants and flux. The polymer preform process
has the operator put water-soluble flux onto the component pad side and
lay it flux-down on top of the preform. The outside edges of the BGA and
preform are aligned to line up the spheres and pads. The pair then go
through reflow and the polymer is peeled off after cooling. A polymer
preform vendor's website states: mentions "It's not unusual with any reball
process to occasionally have one or two balls not adhered to BGA after
processing. That's why we've included our repair stencil. It is used when
there is a need to replace only a few balls." A translation is that if spheres
come off as the polymer is peeled back, the operator would replace the
individual spheres and reflow the part again.

Vacuum Pick-Up. The third method uses a vacuum head with the sphere
pattern, coupled with a flux stencil. There is an initial cost for a vacuum

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19/3/2561 -> A User's Guide to BGA Reballing
and control system. After that, tooling is needed for each unique BGA
pattern. However, the process is extremely fast and typically eliminates
the need for final cleaning and re-baking. A new, patented process for
supporting the spheres reportedly slashes vacuum head cleaning issues
and enhances sphere pick-up and release. The vacuum pick-up process
tries to emulate the original bumping process.

A vacuum work plate has two

pins that extend to center the
device throughout the
operation. The technician
then places a template over
the pins — the template
matching the BGA's outside
dimension and slightly thinner
than the BGA. The tech then
places the component in the Moisten and remove paper.
template where the vacuum
port holds the component in place. A stencil is placed over the tooling pins
and no-clean tacky flux is screen-printed onto the pads. The stencil is then
lifted off. The operator then picks up solder spheres from a reservoir using
the vacuum head (wand). The stencil face of the wand is dipped into the
spheres and lifted, where the operator can see if the pattern has been
filled and if excess spheres need to be brushed off.

Once a full pattern is

achieved, the wand is
lowered over the tooling pins
until the spheres contact the
component. The stencil is
designed so 1/2 the sphere
diameter extends past the
wand stencil face so flux
doesn't touch the wand itself.
The operator then depresses
Hepco 9400-1 solder sphere placement system.
the foot pedal to cut off
vacuum and actuate a vibrating hammer which assists sphere release.
The wand is lifted off the part and the wand and component are quickly
inspected to ensure the spheres are in position. At this point the BGA may
be removed and run through reflow, after which it is ready to be used.

Reflow
While reflow is fairly straightforward, reflow of the spheres does need to
be addressed. With a typical profile, the spheres would go liquidus for
around 30-45 seconds — the temperature depending on the solder alloy
being used. The ramp rate should be kept to around 0.7°C per second
ideally, but definitely less than 2°C per second. With hot air, be careful to
keep flow down. Although it seems obvious, a lot of spheres have been
blown around during reflow. Also, nitrogen atmospheres are always going
to provide a better finished product if such an atmosphere is feasible.
Component preparation and reflow are fairly consistent regardless of the
method used to place the spheres. The three primary methods include tilt
and roll systems, solder preforms, and vacuum pick-up. Preforms offer a
good solution where very low volume and high mix are the rule. Additional
cleaning labor and baking time need to be factored in, along with a
possible additional heat cycle if spheres don't adhere. Vacuum pick-up
offers value at mid- to high-volume and provides a finished product quickly
with virtually no cleaning needed after bumping. Each method has a price
point and volume where it may be the proper choice.

Contact: HEPCO, Inc., 150 San Lazaro Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94086

408-738-1880 fax: 408-732-4456 E-mail: tim@hepcoblue.com Web:
http://www.hepcoblue.com  

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