Underfills

Product Selector Guide

Do you have a Pre-Applied Underfill?

Yes, Loctite Eccobond NCP5209 is a pre-applied underfill for fine-pitch Cu pillars and Cu OSP flip chip devices. This is a non-conductive paste underfill that makes use of a thermo-compression (TC) bonding process to provide a robust and complete bump protection. NCP 5209 is typically used for die sizes ranging from 4x4mm to 12x12mm with bump pitches less than 100 µm and gaps less than 40 µm for a high-reliability result.

Is there a "No flow underfill" that can be used with a standard reflow oven?

We used to promote this "fluxing underfills" around 10 years ago but without success. The process window appeared to be too small for robust performance. Also, the introduction of vacuum and pressure ovens improved the performance of such underfills, hence we stopped these pre-applied underfills for devices with solder bumps.  Instead, a partial POST applied underfill Loctite Eccobond UF 1175 which can be considered which provides good UPH and reliability.

Semiconductor and board level Underfills

Underfills are (mostly) epoxy based thermo set materials that contain (mainly) silica fillers and are designed to flow in the gap between the board and the component. They are typically applied after solder reflow and require heat cure.

Underfill materials need to have a low viscosity to allow them to flow under the components by capillary force. Substrate heating is also sometimes required to facilitate a good flow process and allow the capillary force to pull the underfill under the package.

Standard Capillary underfill process

Capillary underfills have a pretty standard operational process. They are applied and cured post reflow so they don\'t have to withstand extremely high temperatures. The common steps one would have to follow are:

1. Stencil print with solder paste
2. Pick and place the die on the board
3. Take the package through the Reflow oven
4. Dispense the underfill by either jetting it or with a classic syringe
5. Cure the underfill for the recommended time and temperature
6. Done. You have a thermally, mechanically and environmentally protected semiconductor package

Preparing the substrate

Before applying the underfill we need to prepare the substrate for the application. As a first step we need to clean the substrate with either solvent wash or plasma to improve the surface tension and reduce flux residues.

Afterwards we prebake the board to remover the moisture and any remaining solvents.. Normally this is not needed after reflow but it can be a necessary step when we had the boards stored for long, in order to remove the moisture trapped in the board/components that can create outgassing voids when curing.

Heat that is typically in a range between 60°C and 100°C can reduce the viscosity and the surface tension while improving the wetting properties of the substrate.

Developing a capillary underfill process

Of course it is not as simple as it sounds (is it ever?). In order to find the ideal underfill process there is a series or steps you need to take to optimize it.

To begin with we need to calculate the required volume: L x W x H (gap) in mm. Using this value, times the specific gravity (can be found in the TDS) we get the volume measured in mg. Granted this is a rough calculation, not taking into account the solder bumps, but it is good enough.

Let\'s say that the calculated volume is 10mg. In this case we start with passes of 1 mg. Dispense 1 pass and wait until the material is under the component, dispense second pass... proverbially rinse and repeat. When the underfill is creating a fillet on the opposite site than the component is finished. Now it is the time to check the underfill quality by flat and X sections.

Next step is to reduce the amount of passes to check the maximum possible speed. Flow out and top die contamination should be the main points of focus and concern . If needed, changing hardware can also be a solution. A small nozzle can result in an unstable dispense process. With jetting the flowrate is determined by the dot weight, so the machine will calculate the amount of dots needed for the programmed dispense pass. For needle dispensing the flowrate is calculated by the amount dispensed per second. The robot speed will be adjusted to ensure the right volume per pass is dispensed.

Dispensing

The dispensing pattern needs to be optimized to avoid air encapsulation. There are I, L and U shaped dispense patterns with one or multiple passes. U is the most dangerous for void entrapment and should be carefully considered. These parameters depend on the ball grid layout.

The main challenge is to make the process as quick but also as good as possible, with quality always coming before speed. Avoiding the overflow and contaminating adjacent components is the main target for this process. A bigger amount per pass will give a faster process but a bigger flow out, so a compromise has to be made between how good an underfill needs to be and how fast you can apply it. Any flow out can impact volume repeatability and create solder extrusion so it is always advised to optimize it and  have a dispense system with a built in weight scale for volume control.

Curing

Curing of the Underfill should occur as soon as possible after dispensing since moisture absorption becomes a bigger risk after a couple of hours. Also because of the filler settling we might need a gelling step to increase viscosity.

Thermal mass of the boards and components should be taken into account when settling the curing process. Keep in mind that the curing time and temperature in the TDS are guidelines that don't take the thermal mass into account. Testing needs to be done with thermo couples under the device to track time and temperature and be done with a full oven since the thermal mass will be massively different with one board and with a full oven. As a general rule, over-cure is not possible with time.

Application Notes & Troubleshooting