BTC/QFN test board design considerations

It becomes necessary from time to time to change materials of construction, manufacturing processes, and process conditions. A soldering material or cleaning agent may become unavailable due to environmental regulation, market forces, or reformulation. Certain conditions require some form of verification and validation that the process meets the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) quality and reliability specifications.

J-STD-001 Requirements for Soldered Electrical and Electronic Assemblies states that validation and verification be confirmed with test vehicles that are representative of the product being produced. Many of the industry standard test vehicles are dated and not representative of current electrical and electronic assemblies.

The purpose of this research is to use a non-standard test board with sensors placed at the bottom termination to study cleanliness and contamination effects under QFN components. The non-standard test board has features to also study thermal paddle design options and to develop a risk profile. This research will report Surface Insulation Resistance effects at the source of the residue