Methods of coping with fractured FPGA leads during space qualification

Satellite equipment should withstand launch conditions and operate safely in space environment. Necessary design and production approaches should be followed meticulously to prevent failures during launch and operation in space. Hence, qualification tests may be more valuable to observe design and workmanship conforming to the requirements including margin particularly if the equipment is newly developed. In the presented project, fractured FPGA were encountered during the qualification vibration test of a star tracker equipment. This paper literally presents the problem faced, research for root causes, and approaches applied for the problem solving. Microsection examination was performed on solder joints, and also edgebond materials and workmanship for the edgebond process were scrutinized. Some structural analyses were performed to compare results with test data. Based on several analyses and test results, the production process was modified accordingly. Following the successful completion of the qualification phase, these modifications were implemented on the flight model of the equipment.