Simulation of the installation process of solid-state drives to improve their mechanical reliability

Abstract

Recently, solid-state drives (SSDs) have attracted a lot of attention due to its high performance and small volume compared to hard disk drives(HDDs). SSDs have been exposed to various mechanical impacts, such as bending, vibration and thermal cycling during installation, trasportation oroperation. Especially, installing SSDs to device by hand could result in solder joint crack(SJC), dueto considerable bending motion of SSDs. In this study, we investigated the installation process ofSSDs into device to reduce the stress of solder joints. The experimental method as shown in Fig.1has been developed to measure the force, moment and strain of SSDs in the installation process. Thefinite element (FE) model of the SSD has been developed to simulate the installation process. Tovalidate the FE model, the natural frequencies and modes were calculated and compared withexperimental modal testing. FE simulation has also been conducted to calculate strain and stress ofa solder joint. Calculated strain values from the FE model were also compared with theexperimental ones. Finally, appropriate installation condition to reduce the stress of solder joint hasalso been proposed. This study will contribute to understand the installation condition of SSDs inorder to improve the mechanical reliability of SSDs.