IEC 60749-37:2008

IEC 60749-37
Edition 1.0 2008-01
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
NORME
INTERNATIONALE
Semiconductor devices – Mechanical and climatic test methods –
Part 37: Board level drop test method using an accelerometer

Dispositifs à semiconducteurs – Méthodes d’essais mécaniques et climatiques –
Partie 37: Méthode d’essai de chute au niveau de la carte avec utilisation d’un
accéléromètre
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IEC 60749-37
Edition 1.0 2008-01
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
NORME
INTERNATIONALE
Semiconductor devices – Mechanical and climatic test methods –
Part 37: Board level drop test method using an accelerometer

Dispositifs à semiconducteurs – Méthodes d’essais mécaniques et climatiques –
Partie 37: Méthode d’essai de chute au niveau de la carte avec utilisation
d’un accéléromètre
INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
COMMISSION
ELECTROTECHNIQUE
PRICE CODE
INTERNATIONALE
R
CODE PRIX
ICS 31.080.01 ISBN 2-8318-9569-3

– 2 – 60749-37 © IEC:2008
CONTENTS
FOREWORD.3
INTRODUCTION.5

1 Scope and object.6
2 Normative references .6
3 Terms and definitions .6
4 Test apparatus and components.7
4.1 Test apparatus .7
4.2 Test components.8
4.3 Test board.8
4.4 Test board assembly .8
4.5 Number of components and sample size .9
5 Test procedure .9
5.1 Test equipment and parameters .9
5.2 Pre-test characterization .10
5.3 Drop testing.12
6 Failure criteria and failure analysis .12
7 Summary.14

Annex A (informative) Preferred board construction, material, design and layout .15

Bibliography.19

Figure 1 – Typical drop test apparatus and mounting scheme for PCB assembly .10
Figure 2 – Typical shock test half-sine pulse graphic and formulae .11
Figure 3 – Fundamental mode of vibration of PCB supported with four screws.14
Figure A.1 – Recommended test board size and layout.18

Table 1 – Quantity of test boards and components required for testing .9
Table 2 – Component locations for test boards .13
Table A.1 – Test board stack-up and material .15
Table A.2 – Mechanical property requirements for dielectric materials .16
Table A.3 – Recommended test board pad sizes and solder mask openings .17
Table A.4 – X, Y locations for components’ centre .18

60749-37 © IEC:2008 – 3 –
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES –
MECHANICAL AND CLIMATIC TEST METHODS –

Part 37: Board level drop test method using an accelerometer

FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote
international co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To
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patent rights. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
International Standard IEC 60749-37 has been prepared by IEC technical committee 47:
Semiconductor devices.
This standard cancels and replaces IEC/PAS 62050 published in 2004. This first edition
constitutes a technical revision.
The text of this standard is based on the following documents:
FDIS Report on voting
47/1937/FDIS 47/1948/RVD
Full information on the voting for the approval of this standard can be found in the report on
voting indicated in the above table.

– 4 – 60749-37 © IEC:2008
This publication has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
A list of all parts of the IEC 60749 series, under the general title Semiconductor devices –
Mechanical and climatic test methods, can be found in the IEC website.
The committee has decided that the contents of this publication will remain unchanged until
the maintenance result date indicated on the IEC web site under "http://webstore.iec.ch" in
the data related to the specific publication. At this date, the publication will be
• reconfirmed;
• withdrawn;
• replaced by a revised edition, or
• amended.
60749-37 © IEC:2008 – 5 –
INTRODUCTION
Handheld electronic products fit into the consumer and portable market segments. Included in
handheld electronic products are cameras, calculators, cell phones, cordless phones, pagers,
palm size PCs, personal computer memory card international association (PCMCIA) cards,
smart cards, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and other electronic products that can be
conveniently stored in a pocket and used while held in user’s hand.
These handheld electronic products are more prone to being dropped during their useful
service life because of their size and weight. This dropping event can not only cause
mechanical failures in the housing of the device but also create electrical failures in the
printed circuit board (PCB) assemblies mounted inside the housing due to transfer of energy
through PCB supports. The electrical failures may result from various failure modes such as
cracking of the circuit board, track cracking on the board, cracking of solder interconnections
between the components and the board, and component cracks. The primary driver of these
failures is excessive flexing of the circuit board due to input acceleration to the board created
from dropping the handheld electronic product. This flexing of the board causes rel
...