A finite element procedure of a cyclic thermoviscoplasticity model for solder and copper interconnects

A finite element procedure using a semi-implicit time-integration scheme has been developed for a cyclic thermoviscoplastic constitutive model for Pb-Sn solder and OFHC copper, two common metallic constituents in electronic packaging applications. The scheme has been implemented in the commercial finite element (FE) code ABAQUS (1995) via the user-defined material subroutine, UMAT. Several single-element simulations are conducted to compare with previous test results, which include monotonic tensile tests, creep tests, and a two-step ratchetting test for 62Sn36Pb2Ag solder; a nonproportional axial-torsional test and a thermomechanical fatigue (TMF) test for OFHC copper. At the constitutive level, we also provide an adaptive time stepping algorithm, which can be used to improve the overall computation efficiency and accuracy especially in large-scale FE analyses. We also compare the computational efforts of fully backward Euler and the proposed methods. The implementation of the FE procedure provides a guideline to apply user-defined material constitutive relations in FE analyses and to perform more sophisticated thermomechanical simulations. Such work can facilitate enhanced understanding thermomechanical reliability issue of solder and copper interconnects in electronic packaging applications.