Advantages & challenges of cold ball pull test vs conventional ball shear test in the assessment of lead-free solder joint performance

Abstract

A comparison study was done between Cold Ball Pull (CBP) test vs. the conventional ball shear test to further understand the advantages & challenges of CBP test as a method to assess lead-free solder joint performance. From this study, CBP was found to be a better and preferred tool that is able to identify poor lead free solder joint and hence to differentiate the performance of lead free solder systems. This study also outlined the challenges of implementing CBP test as a standard monitoring tool in production floor which lead to the usage of CBP test merely as an engineering monitoring tool at this point.