The role of microstructure in the thermal fatigue of solder joints

Thermal fatigue is a common failure mode in electronic solder joints, yet the role of microstructure is incompletely understood. Here, we quantify the evolution of microstructure and damage in Sn-3Ag-0.5Cu joints throughout a ball grid array (BGA) package using EBSD mapping of localised subgrains, recrystallisation and heavily coarsened Ag