Tuesday, October 26, 2021

How long does a BGA reflow or replacement last?

We are sometimes asked how long does a repair that includes BGA reflow last and isn't it better to have the IC re-balled or maybe even replaced rather than reflown. The one true answer, in my opinion, is "It depends". There are pros and cons for each of those approaches and my goal here is not to get into them, but merely show a picture of a board we've done almost 3 years ago that was merely reflown versus re-balled or replaced:


Well as can be seen in this case the repair has lasted 3 years.

It doesn't mean that every reflow will last 3 years. If it was replaced it would not have meant that every replaced BGA would have lasted 3 years (or 5 or whatever) either.