How can continuum theory help to improve the reliability of microelectronics structures and materials?
After a short introduction to microelectronics structures and materials and the reliability problems encountered therein, a model will be presented in the first half of this talk, which is capable to simulate the coarsening process observed during thermo-mechanical treatment of binary tin-lead solders. Fourier transforms and spectral theory are used for the numerical treatment of the thermo-elastic as well as of the diffusion problem encountered during phase separation in these alloys. More specifically, the analysis will be based exclusively on continuum theory and, in a first step, relies on the numerical computation of the local stresses and strains in a representative volume element. Second, this information is used in an extended diffusion equation to predict the local concentrations of the constituents of the solder. Besides the classical driving forces for phase separation, as introduced by Fick and Cahn-Hilliard, this equation contains an additional term which links the mechani
