Ball Grid Array

Compared with other fine pitch surface mount components having gull wing leads, BGAs offer several distinct advantages including:

  • High pin count capability, generally more than 200, but gull-wing leads limited to less than 300 I/Os
  • Larger lead pitches, which significantly reduces the manufacturing complexities for high I/O parts
  • Higher packaging densities are achievable since the lead envelope for the gull wing leads is not applicable in the case of BGAs; hence, it is possible to mount more packages per board, i.e., higher packaging density
  • Faster circuitry speed than gull wing SMCs (surface mount components) because the terminations are much shorter and therefore less inductive and resistive
  • Better heat dissipation
  • Conventional SMT production technologies such as stencil printing and component mounting can be employed

New Technologies

The introduction of any new technology brings its own benefits and challenges; and BGAs are no exception. As with all new techniques, AWS have invested considerable effort and resource to ensure that the manufacturing process is stable, repeatable and verifiable before it is offered to our customers.

BGA

Robust

BGAs are robust in processing. This stems from their higher pitch (1.27 mm , 0.050", typical), better lead rigidity, and self-alignment characteristics during reflow processing. This latter feature, self-alignment during reflow (attachment by heat), is very beneficial and considerably opens the process window.

BGAs, however, are not compatible with multiple solder processing methods, and individual solder joints cannot be inspected and reworked using conventional methods. In low volume SMT assembly applications, the ability to inspect the solder joints visually has been a standard inspection requirement and is a key factor for providing confidence in the solder joint reliability. To counter this difficulty, AWS has invested in state-of-the-art X-Ray and Automatic Inspection Systems.