Abstract
Joule heating effect in solder joints was investigated using thermal infrared microscopy and modeling in this study. With the increase of applied current, the temperature increased rapidly due to Joule heating. Furthermore, modeling results indicated that a hot spot existed in the solder near the entrance point of the Al trace, and it became more pronounced as the applied current increased. The temperature difference between the hot spot and the solder was as large as 9.4 °C when the solder joint was powered by 0.8 A. This hot spot may play an important role in the initial void formation during electromigration. © 2006 American Institute of Physics.