Evaluation of Surface Mount Technology Reliability of Aerosol-Jet Printed Structures as Landing Pads for Surface Mounted Devices

This paper aims to present the extensive reliability testing results of printed electronics acting as landing pads for traditional Surface Mount Devices (SMD) and the subsequent solder interfaces. Aerosol-Jet (AJ) printing is an emerging technology for producing electronic structures for computing, sensing & transmission applications. The AJ process consists of depositing materials additively onto a substrate in a controlled manner to achieve a functioning device. A challenge of this technology is interfacing devices with traditional electronic components. Surface mount devices such as ball grid arrays (BGA) and 0402 sized resistors were evaluated for solderability to Aerosol-Jet printed test vehicles. The results of this paper include reliability data, failure analysis, materials comparison and insight into SMT processing to suit the departure from traditional printed circuit board (PCB) substrates. The resulting assemblies were tested for reliability against industry standards in an attempt to meet the Clopper-Pearson method for 90% confidence that 90% reliability exists.