Simulation of Mechanical Stresses in BaTiO₃ Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors during Desoldering in the Rework of...

Multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) are critical components when thermal processes such as reflow desoldering are used during rework of electronic assemblies. The capacitor's ferroelectric BaTiO₃ body is very brittle. Therefore, thermomechanical stresses can cause crack formation and create conductive paths that may short the capacitor. In order to assess the thermally induced mechanical stresses onto an MLCC during reflow desoldering, simulations were carried out, which make use of a framework of computational fluid dynamics and thermomechanical models within the ANSYS software package. In the first step, CFD simulations were conducted to calculate the transient temperature field in the surrounding of the MLCC component, which was then used as an input for FEM simulations to compute the arising mechanical stresses inside the MLCC. The results of the simulations show that the major contribution to mechanical stresses within the MLCC component comes from the mismatch in thermal expansion between the printed circuit board and the MLCC. The temperature gradients along the MLCC component are rather small and account only for moderate internal stresses within the brittle BaTiO₃ body.