Experimental Validation of Fatigue Life of CCGA 624 Package with Initial Contact Pressure of Thermal Gap Pads under Random Vibration Excitation

Thermal gap pads are widely used for effective heat transfer from high-heat-dissipating components to a heat sink. The initial contact pressure of thermal pads is an important parameter for enhancing the heat transfer capability of thermal design during the assembly process of the heat sink. However, this causes stress on the solder joint of the component as a result of the pad's inherent resistance to deformation. In this study, we investigated the effect of thermal pad on the fatigue life of the solder joint of CCGA 624 package for space usage. A random vibration fatigue test for several specimen assembly sets with various pressurization levels of thermal gap pads was performed, and their fatigue lives were compared with that of the package without the initial pressure of thermal gap pads.