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- December 30, 2022
- PCB knowledge
- (0)
- 05 mins
What are the secrets of BGA?
With the advancement of technology, the need to have compact devices is increasing day by day. To make this happen it is important to develop such components which are compact in size and also perform more operations than the previous versions. In search of that BGA proves worthy of using it which offers more connections in little space on PCB.
BGA package is usually semiconductor packaging technology first developed in 1991, and after that, this package become popular and being used in daily consumer products like smartphones, smart watches, tablets, and even indifferent electronic devices that are used in medicine.
What does BGA stand for?
BGA stands for Ball Grid Array. It is a surface mount package, generally comprises of solder balls forming a grid-like structure. BGA is mostly used to mount SMT microprocessors. BGA package allows more connections as in this package approximately the whole bottom side can be used for connection, and in this way, this package allows more interconnection pins than the other packages like the flat-pack package which has interconnection pins on its perimeter only.
Soldering BGA Package requires precision with accuracy which can be achieved with the help of machine soldering. BGA provides the best solution to the problem of fabrication of miniature components with the maximum possible pins even hundreds of pins, which can’t be achieved by any other package.
What is BGA substrate?
BGA substrate is generally a carrier used in making different variants of BGA packages for example BGA packages for microprocessors mostly require a high number of interconnection pins.
As the BGA package provides an easy solution o problem due to the reason, different BGA substrates are being introduced and in parallel, they gaining popularity to be used in circuits that requires more interconnection pins with lesser space available and eventually helping in the miniaturization of PCBs while keeping precision and accuracy intact.
This BGA technology is affordable but offers unmatched efficiency standards. Following are some rules that must be kept in mind while designing BGA substrates.
- Higher signal integrity
- Shorter leads must be used
- Must entail power planes
- RF performance must be entertained where necessary.
What is the difference between BGA and LGA?
Following are the major differences between BGA and LGA.
- LGA doesn’t have solder balls, but flat connecting pins and connection are done with the help of a socket in PCB but BGA requires soldering for its connection.
- Placement of LGA is easier just like plug and play, generally used on such PCBs which has a socket. But making connections is more difficult, in the BGA package.
- BGA package can’t be used for different applications more frequently than LGA does, as their removal procedure is risk-free but costly and a bit more difficult than LGA.
Why use a ball grid array in a circuit?
There are many reasons to use BGA in circuits, some of which are jotted below.
- BGA provides ease to soldering as BGA has stencils and self-aligned solder balls. BGA transfers heat efficiently with the help of free spaces, heat sink, and good contact surface area with thermal paste, and thus offers low thermal resistance and high heat dissipation.
- BGA packages have separate planes for ground and power, that’s why offer lower
- inductance and lower impedance of signal.
- BGA packages give freedom from broken or damaged pins like flat packs or THT. BGA offers easy soldering.
- BGA package also provides advantages regarding thickness, as many devices are needed
- to be much thinner and BGA plays a role to fulfil this requirement.
How does a BGA soldering work?
Initially, soldering a BGA package was a hard task as its pads are normally under and are invisible, but nowadays, due to its reliability, BGA packages are used in greater numbers. To solder a BGA package, Reflow Soldering Technique is generally practical and proved a very effective way to solder any BGA package.
As there are solder balls already under the package, so to solder the BGA package, it is necessary to bring the temperature of the whole PCBA up to limit where these solder ball melts and make connecting with the pads on the PCB surface. In this method it is important to take into consideration, not increasing temperature beyond a certain limit where it may cause a short-circuit or other related problems.
What is BGA soldering Inspection?
BGA soldering joint inspection is nearly impossible to do using any optical methods since BGA packages have connection pads that are invisible and are located under the package. The only effective method to inspect BGA soldering joint is X-ray inspection. Only this type of inspection can inspect those solder joints which are invisible to any optical inspection methods and also aids in the inspection effectively.How is BGA package made?
BGA package is made, in a similar fashion to making SMT components, usually considered as one ofthe forms of SMT devices, generally made up ofmultiple overlapping layers having millions and billions of logic gates, flip flops, transistors, multiplexers, or other electronic circuits. The only difference is BGA package has a large number of tiny balls under the IC package.
These tiny solder balls are used by the BGA package to create a connection to the PCB circuit. BGA packages are nowadays used more frequently in circuits, as they provide a greater number of interconnection pins, almost the whole surface area underneath the package, instead of just the perimeter like in flat pack components. Thus, the BGA package provides higher connection density.
BGA substrate is generally a carrier used in making different variants of BGA packages for example BGA packages for microprocessors mostly require a high number of interconnection pins.
Initially, soldering a BGA package was a hard task as its pads are normally under and are invisible, but nowadays, due to its reliability, BGA packages are used in greater numbers.
BGA soldering joint inspection is nearly impossible to do using any optical methods since BGA packages have connection pads that are invisible and are located under the package.
Conclusion
BGA package is a sort of SMT technology that offers a greater number of interconnection pins to transmit electronic signal from package to PCB and to package also.
Designing a PCBA with a BGA package can cost time, more money, and at some point more difficult but at the same time these packages allow more free space and bring compactness, reliability, and stiffness. Due to the development of these kinds of electronic components, manufacturing smart yet powerful gadgets become possible.
