Eddy current induced heating for the solder reflow of area array packages

This paper presents a feasibility study of using eddy current induced heating for the solder reflow of area array packages. With a high frequency electromagnetic field, Sn3.5%Ag lead-free solder balls were heated to melt and wet the solder pads on an organic substrate. The experimental results showed that such a solder reflow process could be implemented effectively in a wide processing window. With an infrared temperature sensor, it was found that the temperature difference between the solder balls and the FR4 board might reach 80 °C, indicating a rather localized heating mechanism. In addition, the heating and cooling rates during the soldering were found very high. This is another feature of the induction heating reflow process. It was also found that the generated temperature in the solder balls would depend on the size of the solder balls. This characteristic may be used to perform selective soldering of flip chip BGA packages. Furthermore, the developed soldering process was applied to the board level reflow of actual components. The result verified that the induction heating reflow is a feasible soldering process in actual applications.