Moisture Diffusion Inside the BEOL of an FC-PBGA Package

Abstract

Moisture diffusion into the back-end-of-line (BEOL) can be critical for the reliability of electronic devices. With the objective of studying moisture diffusion into critical areas, such as the silicon–organic substrate interfaces of a flip chip plastic ball grid array (FC-PBGA), a multitude of impedance sensors sensitive to moisture are integrated inside the BEOL of a 17×17 mm silicon die. The sensors are read by a dedicated custom circuit that allows accurate characterization of the moisture with in situ spatial measurements. This article presents the results obtained by the experimental acquisition system on the FC-PBGA module under a high-relative humidity (RH) level of up to 75%. This study shows the moisture behavior of the multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) sensors inside the BEOL during absorption and desorption. The behavior initially follows Fick’s law, with a constant increase in the RH. For long-term tests of more than 400 h, an asymptotic behavior is observed; when the concentration of a sensor reaches a value close to saturation, a two-dimensional finite-difference method (2D FDM) is used to estimate the saturation value. Thanks to the large number of sensors distributed on the BEOL, we first detect, during an absorption test, an increase in the RH. This increase is due, first of all, to a lateral moisture front with a constant velocity of about 90 μm /h moving through the underfill. Then, after 30 h of storage, a more complex diffusion through the organic substrate occurs, affecting the BEOL.