For handheld electronic applications such as cell phones and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), drop/impact could result in considerable flexure of the printed circuit board (PCB) mounted inside the cell phone housing. The mechanical stresses may cause electrical failure of the components, with typical failure mechanisms of board trace cracking, solder joint fatigue, and solder pad cracking. A standardized test needs to be developed to assess reliability of handheld components subjected to impacts. The test should facilitate high volume testing, maximize margin for safety factors, and capture the failure mechanisms in the field environment. To develop the reliability test using use conditions based reliability methodology, comprehensive characterization of the mechanical field stresses during end use conditions is particularly essential. This paper discusses complete cell phone drop characterization along with the shock test developed to test the components subjected to such drops. Novel fixtures have been designed to simulate free fall of the cell phone in specific orientations. After the complete characterization of cell phone use conditions, board level shock test has been selected to assess component reliability. Test repeatability, number of components on the test board, and layout of the components are some of the factors considered during the board level shock test development. Several parameters like screw and washer designs, torque have been studied to yield excellent test repeatability. Nonlinear Dynamic Finite Element Simulation has been performed to provide more insight into the interaction of the bending modes and its impact on the solder joint failures. This paper demonstrates the process of understanding use conditions, developing reliability tests, validating test results and driving industry standards.
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