FMEA of System-in-Package (SiP) based Tire Pressure Monitoring System

Man-Lung SHAM1, Tung-Chin LUI2, Ziyang GAO & Tom CHUNG

Advanced Packaging Technologies, Material and Packaging Technologies
Hong Kong Applied Science & Technology Research Institute (ASTRI), Hong Kong Science Park, Shatin, Hong Kong, China
1
ivansham@astri.org 2hollylui@astri.org
Abstract
For transferring R&D efforts into real product
manufacturing, proper product reliability qualification is one
of the most critical considerations during product
development in addition to assembly yield prediction. It is
particularly important for automotive electronics because the
operating conditions are extremely harsh (e.g. -20C ~ 105C)
and a number of applications are even related to human
safety.
Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) of SiP-based
Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) is selected in this
paper as an illustration of the process for transferring R&D
efforts into real product. FMEA is proven as a useful tool in
the early design stage to identify any potential design and/or
process related failure modes, corresponding effects, root
causes followed by corrective actions. Better quality and
reliability, shorter system development time and cost, as well
as early identification and elimination of potential failure
modes can therefore be achieved. In addition, numerical
analysis was performed during the course of FMEA in order
to address the potential risks and therefore to provide proper
recommendations.
1. Introduction
With the ever-growing demands and complexity of
integrated chip (IC), the requirements of nowadays electronic
packaging design are extremely stringent, including
reasonable performance, small form-factor, efficient thermal
dissipation, good reliability, and certainly, low-cost. It goes
without saying that if the design is proven to be robust in the
early stage by all possible means, the whole development and
commercialization cycle can be smoother and cost-effective,
where Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is
considered to be an useful approach to improve the robustness
of the design [1-5]. The key purposes of FMEA are to identify
all the potential failure locations and modes, respective risk
levels, possible effects due to the failures, etc. during the
production and operation.
In principle, failures can be ranked according to their
seriousness to the performance and reliability of the final
product, occurrence frequency, detectability, etc. Once the
FMEA is defined in the package design stage, engineers can
always refer to the recommendations from the FMEA to
review their design and perform necessary corrections before
prototype implementation. Of course, the contents of the
FMEA can be continuously updated along with the
characteristics of the evolving design and the manufacturing
procedures. Undoubtedly, FMEA is to eliminate or at least
reduce the risks in encountering failures, and FMEA should
also recommend the corresponding remedial actions in case
failure is encountered.

Tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) is regarded as

one of the key safety-related automotive electronics
applications going to be regulated all over the world, firstly
regulated in US from September 2007. The main function of
TPMS is to warn the drivers when any tire has been out of a
normal tire pressure range such that unnecessary damages to
the tires can be reduced and more importantly traffic accidents
due to inappropriate tire pressure can be avoided. It is
reported that the TPMS market is going to be enormous in the
coming years, reaching 169 million units and over US$2
billion by 2011 [6].
Typically a TPMS contains sensors (pressure sensor,
temperature sensor, accelerometer, etc.), microcontroller,
transceiver/RF chip, antenna and battery, as illustrated in Fig.
1. In fact, state-of-the-art TPMS-related IC package is actually
based on System-in-Package (SiP) approach to integrate the
microcontroller chip, RF chip, sensor chips into a single IC
package such that the dimensions and costs of the final TPMS
end-product can be substantially reduced. Detailed
discussions about the packaging technologies of TPMS have
been described elsewhere [7].

Fig. 1 Typical components in a TPMS [6].

The objective of this paper is to perform a FMEA for a
SiP-based electronic package for TPMS application, and
parametric studies are performed by using numerical analysis
in order to identify the weakest links of the package and their
subsequent effects on the overall product reliability. The
possible remedial solutions are also included.
2. Experimental Procedures
A simplified Small-Outline-Package with 28 leads (SOP28) was considered in this study, as shown in Fig. 2.
Leadframe-based package indeed is still the major packaging
format for automotive electronics -related applications due to
its proven reliability. Commercial off-the-shelf components
were integrated in this SOP-28 design, including packaged
pressure sensor, MCU chip, RF chip and passive component.
Moreover, two different SOP-28 package designs (Design A
and Design B) were compared. Provided that both designs

2008 International Conference on Electronic Packaging Technology & High Density Packaging (ICEPT-HDP 2008)
978-1-4244-2740-6/08/$25.00 2008 IEEE

were compatible to conventional surface mount technology

(SMT) pick & place process (i.e. having a flat top surface
sufficient for common vacuum nozzle to land), Design B can
significantly save over 40% of molding compound material
per unit when compared to Design A.

2-D numerical analyses were performed by ANSYS 11.0,

and 8-nodes PLANE 82 elements were used for all the
package components.
Table 1. Materials properties of the package components.

Packaged pressure sensor

Passive
component

MCU & RF

Leadfra
me
(Copper)
Mold
compoun
d
(EME773
0)

Design A

Design B
Fig. 2 SOP-28 design for TPMS application
Except the solder interconnections, all the other
components are modeled as isotropic and linear elastic as
summarized in Table 1 whereas the Youngs modulus of the
solder interconnections were assumed thermo-elastic-plastic
following Equation 1 [8-11], and temperature dependent
bilinear isotropic plastic property was employed to describe
the elastic-plastic behavior of the solder as plotted in Fig. 3.
E(T) = 74.84 0.08T (MPa)
where T is temperature in K.

(1)

50
45
40

Stress, MPa

35
30
25
20
15

T = 233K
T = 298K

10

T = 343K
T = 373K

T = 490K

0
0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

Strain

Fig. 3 Bilinear isotropic hardening properties of solder joint

under different temperature.
Steady creep behavior of Sn-Ag-Cu -based solder was
modeled by Garofalo constitutive equation (sinh law model),
as described in Equation 2.

C
C
= C1 [sinh(C 2)] 3 exp 4
t
T

Silicon
die
Die
Attach
(ABLEB
OND
84-MVB)

Elastic
Modulus
(GPa)

Poissons
Ratio

Density
(kg/m3)

CTE*
(ppm/C)

110

0.343

8960

16.4 at 293K
18.5 at 523K

28.22 at 233K
23.52 at 298K
1.764 at 513K

0.25

1900

112.4

0.28

2329

12.18 at 233K
6.77 at 298K
0.207 at 473K

0.35

720

Mold
compoun
24
0.37
d of
pressure
sensor
PCB
FR4
(Compon
22
0.28
ent of
pressure
)
Sn3.9Ag0.6Cu
74.84 0.08T
0.40
(Compon
ent of
pressure
sensor)
Underfill
(Compon
11
0.3
ent of
pressure
sensor)
Nickel
(Compon
207
0.31
ent of
i )
Ceramic
(Compon
0.177
0.284
ent of
)
* CTE i Coefficient
of thermal expansion.

9 at 233K
10 at 403K
17 at 418K
22 at 423K
27 at 428K
34 at 443K
35 at 473K
2.49 at 293K
3.61 at 523K
44 at 233K
45 at 353K
79 at 363k
89 at 368K
99 at 373K
133 at 383K
134 at 473K

1900

8; T 398K
34; T 398K

1800

18.5

7500

16.66
+0.017T

1190

21

8880

13.1

5606

2.9

3. FMEA strategy
The flow of the whole assembly process is summarized in Fig.
4.

(2)

where t and T are time and temperature, and C1=4.41 x 105

(1/s); C2=5 x 10-9(Pa); C3=4.2 and C4=5,412(K) [12].

2008 International Conference on Electronic Packaging Technology & High Density Packaging (ICEPT-HDP 2008)

Component received
& inspected
Solder paste
applied on
leadframe by
stencil printing
Surface mounted
components placed
on leadframe
Reflow

bottom die region were insensitive to the draft angle, and the
maximum stress along the bottom die interface with the die
adhesive was 150MPa.

Plasma cleaning
Wire bonding
Plasma cleaning
Transfer
molding
Trim & form

Die bonding

Burn-in & test

Die adhesive
cured

Clean & final

inspection

Fig. 5 von Mises stress distributions of SiP with various draft

angle: (a) 7; (b) 20; (c) 45; and (d) without any draft angle.

Fig. 4 Process flow of the SiP.

470

4. Results and Discussions

4.1 Effects of package design on overall stress distribution
As abovementioned, Design B can significantly save over
40% of the molding compound, and it is important in
understanding how the package design affects the overall
stress distribution. Fig. 5 shows the SiP with various
geometries, i.e. different draft angles as defined in the figure.
To expedite the computation in this section, thermal
excursions as shown in Fig. 6 were applied without
considering the solder-creep properties and the stress
distributions at 233K during the last thermal cycle were
compared for different designs, as illustrated in Fig. 5 as well.
Essentially, stress concentration regions for all cases were
identified in the region underneath the bottom die and the
leadframe as shown in Fig. 5. Considering that the thickness
of die adhesive in-between the die and the leadframe (<20m)
was comparatively smaller than the thickness of the silicon die
(~150m) and the leadframe (127m), the local region can be
approximated as bi-material strip structure and the elevated
stress (x) due to the temperature change (T) can be
estimated by Equation 3 [13]:

[ x ]i =

E i T
( )
(1 i ) j i

(3)

where E is the modulus, is the CTE, is the Poissons

ratio and i refers to the material under investigation while j
refers to the material adhering on material i. Apparently, apart
from the CTE mismatch (j i) and the temperature change,
the modulus and Poissons ratio will also contribute to the
resultant stress. It is noticed that the maximum stress near the

420

Temperature (K)

Based on the above process flow, examples of some of the

individual process FMEAs are summarized in Table 2.
In the following sections we will demonstrate the
approaches in adopting numerical analysis to provide more
information to package design engineers in optimizing the
package.

370

320

270

220
0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

40000

Time (s)

Fig. 6 Thermal excursions between 233K (-40C) and 398K

(125C).
4.2 Effects of package design on solder joint reliability
It is of interest to investigate if the solder joint fatigue life
was affected by package design, and the packages with 7 and
without any draft angle were studied under the same thermal
excursions as previously shown in Fig. 6. Solder creep
property was considered in the modela. Comparing the von
Mises stresses inside the solder joints of the packages, it is
noticed that the stress levels underneath the packaged pressure
sensor were higher than the stresses under the passive
component on the other side of the package, and the stress
distribution near the pressure sensor of the two designs are
shown in Fig. 7.
Although it appears that the stress distributions particularly
inside the solder joints were very similar, the maximum shear
stress levels and the creep strain levels were indeed very
different as shown in Fig. 8. The maximum shear stress and
creep shear strain of the 7 draft angle package were
approximately 2 times and 6 times higher than the package
without any draft angle at the solder joint under the pressure
sensor respectively. Accordingly, the lifetime of the solder
joint would be dramatically affected due to the package
design.
4.3 Effects of delamination in solder joint reliability
Since the top surface of the packaged pressure sensor has
to be exposed in order to determine the environment pressure,
the top surface of the packaged pressure sensor is therefore at

2008 International Conference on Electronic Packaging Technology & High Density Packaging (ICEPT-HDP 2008)

the same level as the top surface of the SiP as illustrated

previously. Yet, the exposed interfaces between the packaged
pressure sensor and the molding compound of the SiP would
induce stress singularities which in fact are the potential sites
for initiating delamination. Thence, it is important to
investigate how the package design affects the solder joint
reliability of the pressure sensor in this particular SiP.
Elements with air properties were introduced along both
sides of the pressure sensor with the length equal to half of the
pressure sensor height. Other materials models and thermal
excursions were the same as in previous sections.

Figure 9 compares the hysteresis maximum shear stresscreep shear strain loop of the 7 draft angle package with and
without delamination along the interfaces between packaged
pressure sensor-molding compound of the SiP. It is noticed
that although the stress levels of the delaminated condition
were slightly lower than the perfect-adhesion condition,
presumably because of the overall stress re-distribution, the
amounts of creep shear strain of the delaminated condition
indeed were continuously higher than the perfect-adhesion
condition with respect to the thermal excursions. This
implicates that the lifetime of the solder joints would be
reduced if there exist delamination along the packaged
pressure sensor-molding compound interfaces. Special
attention has to be paid to enhance the interfacial adhesion,
for example, plasma treatment before the mold transfer
process.

Fig. 7. von Mises stress distribution near the pressure sensor

region: (a) 7 draft angle package; and (b) without any draft
angle.

Fig. 9. Hysteresis shear stress-creep shear strain loop of 7

draft angle package with thermal excursions.

(a)

(b)
Fig. 8. Maximum stressing condition inside the solder joint of
packaged pressure sensor inside the 7 draft angle package
with respect to the thermal loading history: (a) shear stress;
and (b) creep shear strain.

5. Concluding Remarks
FMEA of a SiP design for TPMS applications had been
conducted, and numerical analyses were also performed to
determine the potential risks of failure of the package Based
on the above discussions following remarks are concluded:
By performing a comprehensive FMEA, the package
design can be effectively reviewed and more robust before
prototype manufacturing, and the time-to-market cycle can be
therefore shortened effectively.
The draft angle of package had insignificant effects on
the maximum stress of the SiP, but it affected the reliability of
solder joints underneath the packaged pressure sensor.
Once delamination was encountered between the
package pressure sensor and molding compound of the SiP,
the maximum creep shear strain inside the solder joints of the
packaged pressure sensor showed significant increment.
Proper interfacial bonding enhancement technique should be
considered during volume-manufacturing.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to express the gratitude to Mr.
Vincent Leung, Lourdito Olleres, Mr. Gomer Egnisaban, Mr.
Antonio Mangente and Dr. Lydia Leung of ASTRI for their
advices on package design development throughout this
study.

2008 International Conference on Electronic Packaging Technology & High Density Packaging (ICEPT-HDP 2008)

References
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Electronic Failures and Monitoring Strategies in Automotive
Control Units, IEEE 2007, pp. 17-21.
[2] M. Kennedy, Failure Modes & Effects Analysis
(FMEA) of Flip Chip Devices Attached to Printed Wiring
Boards (PWB), Intl Electronics Manufacturing Technology,
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[3] C. J. Price, N. S. Taylor, FMEA for Multiple
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[5] I. D. Wolf, Reliability of MEMS, 7th Int. Conf. on
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[6] 2005-2006TPMS, Pday
Research, 2007/08.
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Chung, Advanced Packaging Technologies for Automotive
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[8] Y. Qi, H. R. Ghorbani, J. K. Spelt, Thermal Fatigue
of SnPb and SAC Resistor Joints: Analysis of Stress-Strain as
a Function of Cycle Parameters, IEEE Transactions on
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[9] I. Kim, S. Lee, Fatigue Life Evaluation of Lead-free
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[11] B. A. Zahn, Impact of Ball via Configurations on
Solder Joint Reliability in Tape Based Chip-Scale Packages,
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for Lead-Free Solder Joint Reliability of High-Density
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2008 International Conference on Electronic Packaging Technology & High Density Packaging (ICEPT-HDP 2008)

Table 2. FMEA of SiP.

Item

Failure Mode

Die

SMT components

Die-attach (DA)

Wirebond [14]

Gap in the wire.

Rupture of the

Failure Effect(s)
Broken down the electrical
connections.

wire at the heel of

the bond.
Life-off of the
deformed wire.

Failure Causes
Excessive current

Die fracture after

thermal excursions.

Crack arises from the die

bottom to the die edge and

corners.
Vertical and horizontal die
cracks.

Class I
Solderability
Electrical Failure
Class II
Pre-mature solder
joint failure due to
voids inside.

Class I
Excess paste
insufficient paste
misalignment
Class II
Improper reflow profile
Exaggerated stress
concentration at certain
locations.

Corrosion
(Die fracture will be
discussed in die
adhesive section)

Moisture diffusion into the

molding compound
Uncontrolled assembly
environment
Poor adhesive between the
die and molding compound

overheating and melting the

wire.
Thermo-mechanical stress
due to the CTE mismatches
between the components
Excessive thermal stress
lifting the weakened bond
or fracturing of the silicon
under the bond.
Vertical cracks from the die
backside are primarily due
to the presence of voids in
the DA.
Horizontal cracks are due
to the elevated interfacial
stresses near the die edges
[14].

Class I
Printer setup
Damaged screen
Incorrect process setting,

e.g. print speed.

Incorrect stencil design,

e.g. aspect ratio of the

opening
Viscosity of paste
Class II
Insufficient dwell time for
flux activation and
evaporation
Too fast ramp up rate from
dwell to max. reflow
temperature
Un-optimized package
design.
Improper molding

compound

Diffusion through the

passivation layer

Transport of ionic

contaminants to the
potential corrosion site
Electrochemical reaction
between water and the
various ionic constituents
Low filler loading
Trim and form process
damages the leads and
introduces microcracks at
the epoxy-leadframe
interface.

Preventive Steps
Increase the wire diameter for

high current applications

Optimized the material

selections to minimize the CTE

mismatches.

Avoid the presence of voids in

DA by dispensing proper
amounts of DA and appropriate
dispense pattern.
Select proper DA for minimum
residual stress.

Class I
Proper process parameters have to
be determined. At the beginning
of each shift a regular setup
proceeding should be performed,
including the inspection of tooling,
equipment and screen.
Class II
The solder reflow profile
should match the reflow
characteristics
For every new design reflow
oven calibration is
recommended
Retailed material analysis
should be performed to predict
the straining condition of the
package and the reliability
tests.
Select proper molding
compound(s) with sufficient
resistant against the moisture
level as specified in the
corresponding standards
requirements (e.g. AES Q100)
Based on the characteristics of
the passivation layer of the die,
select proper molding
compound(s) for superior
adhesion (Detailed
experimental conditions have
been reported elsewhere [15]

2008 International Conference on Electronic Packaging Technology & High Density Packaging (ICEPT-HDP 2008)