Is present-day accelerated cycling adequate for surface mount attachment reliability evaluation?

This memorandum is the documentation for a tutorial presentation designed to 1) highlight and discuss the necessary considerations for proper accelerated shear fatigue reliability testing of surface mount solder joints, and 2) propose a common set of uniform test procedures for surface mount attachment accelerated reliability testing as well as propose a generic test suitable for industry round robin programs and specifications. This standard test, while perforce being an oversimplification and not representing any real use condition, represents a compromise between the competing requirements of universal usefulness, practicality, simplicity and validity.