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What is BGA Chip ?

BGA (Ball Grid Array) is a technology for surface mounting ICs using small

balls on the underside of the chip package instead of pins. BGA is

sometimes referred to as CSP (Chip Size Package). The term BGA is most

commonly used when talking about packages that are 4, 6, or 8 balls in

diameter.

Table of Contents

Distinguishing features:

The distinguishing features of a BGA are:

Very small package size (about 1/20th the area of a comparable pin-based

package).

All contacts are on the bottom surface of the chip.

Each contact is made with a solder ball, not a wire.

Solder balls usually have to be reflowed in order to make reliable

connections to the substrate. The solder balls are melted with a hot gas at

temperatures over 400° C (750° F). BGA packages typically use larger balls

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than CSP packages. The larger balls allow for better distribution of the gas

at the bottom of the package.

The balls do not have to be round as in CSP packages; they can be made

out of any shape and are frequently rectangular or triangular for more

reliable mounting to a PCB.

BGA packages are mechanically very robust. The balls are usually attached

to the chip with a small amount of adhesive, and not with solder. This

allows for some misalignment between the balls and contact pads on the

chip without causing mechanical damage. If there is excessive

misalignment, it will result in poor electrical contact and possibly solder

fatigue.

BGA packages are generally not as reliable as CSP packages (more time

consuming and costly to repair). They often have larger pads to

accommodate the increased thermal expansion. The small size of the

package makes it hard to maintain a good temperature distribution

during soldering and to perform reliable visual inspection after assembly.

BGA is not a technology, but rather a device classification. There are many

variations of BGAs, such as multi-chip BGAs and flip-chip BGAs.

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Are there disadvatages?

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BGA packages have some disadvantages compared to pin-based

packages:

Each contact point, or ball, must be soldered to the PCB. This requires

a reflow process at temperatures above 400 °C. At this temperature, the

solder can damage the substrate material. Because of this, BGAs are not

used in applications where small size is not essential and a larger package

can be used. BGA packages are not suitable for applications where

reliability is essential and small size is not an issue.

A high level of heat is required to solder the balls to the substrate, and this

can damage the chip. The balls are usually attached to the chip with a

small amount of adhesive, and are not soldered in place as with CSPs.

Poor thermal contact between the ball and substrate may result in large

temperature differentials across the ball, causing solder fatigue and

resulting in unreliable operation or even damage to the IC. The BGA must

be attached flat on its side to a heat sink or a PCB.

The substrate might not be able to withstand the temperature generated

by the soldering process. In this case, the chip must be attached to a heat

sink with a good thermal conductivity material in order to dissipate the

heat. This is not always possible, for example if the chip must be used in

an area where there is no room for a heat sink.

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The balls can easily fall off if excessive force is applied to the package

during handling. The balls are permanently attached to the substrate with

an adhesive. This is usually good for reliability, but if a ball comes off, it will

be hard to find it.

What are some solutions to the problems of using BGA?

chips bga

BGA packages can be used in many applications where the benefits

outweigh the disadvantages. A few solutions are:

The entire PCB can be coated with solder, and then rework is done using a

solder bath or hot air. This allows the use of BGA chips in applications

where they would otherwise not be feasible.

BGA packages can be used in low-reliability applications, but only if the

surface mounting technology is handled by a skilled operator who is able

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to do visual inspection after assembly. The operator must be able to

recognize if a ball came off the package, which is not always easy because

the balls are usually very small.

BGA devices are often used in high-reliability applications where yield is

not an issue and the device can be replaced easily in case of failure.

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Understanding the importance of BGA Sockets for BGA chips

BGA sockets are used for surface-mounting BGAs onto PCBs. BGA sockets

help to mount the BGA chips onto PCBs without much hassle. The main

problem of mounting an IC onto a PCB is that it can be very difficult to

locate the pins of the IC on a PCB and solder them individually. Also, the

mounting process can be very time consuming and frustrating if not done

correctly. By using BGA sockets, these problems are solved. A BGA

socket is made of plastic in the shape of a rectangle and has spaces on its

underside to accommodate each solder ball of the BGA chip.

BGA sockets come in two types: active and passive. An active BGA socket

has electrical contacts on its underside to which the solder balls of the

BGA chip are connected. A passive BGA socket does not have any contact

pads on its underside. Instead, it is connected to a PCB using

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through-holes or surface mount technology (SMT) components. In this

article, we will only be looking at active BGA sockets.

BGA sockets are available in a variety of sizes depending on the size of the

BGA chip that they are designed to accommodate. Some BGA sockets are

designed to accommodate only one BGA chip, while others accommodate

two or even four chips. The size of a BGA socket is usually specified in

terms of the number of rows and columns on its underside. For example,

if a BGA socket is designed to accommodate a 4×4-ball BGA chip, then it

would have 16 contact pads arranged in 4 rows and 4 columns.

BGA chips are available in a variety of sizes. The number of balls on the

underside of a BGA chip is usually specified as x4, x6 or x8. A x4-ball BGA

chip has 4 balls on its underside. A x6-ball BGA chip has 6 balls, and so on.

BGA chips are available in several different ball sizes. The size of the balls

is usually specified as x1, x2, x3, etc. A ball size x1 is the smallest ball size

and it has a diameter of 0.4 mm. A ball size x4 is the largest ball size and

its balls have a diameter of 1.0 mm. The larger the ball size, the larger

the footprint of the BGA chip on the PCB.

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Why should manufacturing companies consider BGAs instead

of CSP packages:

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There are several reasons why a manufacturing company should consider

using BGAs instead of CSP packages:

The BGA package can be smaller than its CSP counterpart.

BGAs are capable of greater packing density than any other

surface-mount package.

BGA packages are often cheaper to manufacture due to the smaller size,

fewer balls, and fewer added features. In addition, BGAs can be made with

lead-free solder. The solder balls can be placed on the BGA chip

with robotic equipment, which is much more efficient than hand

placement of CSP packages.

BGA packages have a greater variety of shapes compared to CSP packages.

This allows for packaging that takes advantage of various mounting

geometries and reduces the height of the PCB.

The small size of BGAs makes them more suitable for applications where

space is limited, such as mobile phones.

BGA packages are less sensitive to misalignment than CSP packages

because they use a small amount of adhesive to secure the balls to the

chip. This allows for a larger margin of error during mounting.

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BGA packages can be used to make a better use of space

in high-density applications. For example, stacked BGAs formed by

placing one BGA on top of another are commonly used in handheld

devices.

Today, BGA chips are used in many different applications from

high power radio frequency amplifiers to lowest power sensors. BGA

offers the smallest packages available, which are small enough to

accommodate a large number of pins on the chip. Additionally, BGAs offer

large thermal dissipation capability yet still maintain high reliability due to

the small size/mass of the package.

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With BGA, you will never have to worry about a connector or a lead

breaking off of your device. BGA chips are mechanically very rugged and

difficult to damage. BGA does not require a socket, which means there is

no need for a secondary carrier board. This makes it very cost effective.

As you can see, BGA is a very interesting technology that gives the utmost

flexibility in the design of chip packages, but at the same time it requires a

lot more effort and expertise than other surface mount designs. When

considering BGA for your product, there are many things to be considered

– size, cost, reliability, complexity of design, but most importantly your

specific application.

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