BGA sockets use a sphere grid array for CPU connections, with tiny solder balls instead of pins or holes. They have various variants, including CBGA and PBGA. BGA has advantages, such as superior electrical performance, but also disadvantages, such as less flexibility and mechanical reliability compared to PGA and LGA. It is not as popular as other form factors, but is used for low-performance Intel Atom processors.
A BGA socket is a central processing unit (CPU) socket that uses a type of surface mount integrated circuit packaging called a sphere grid array. It is similar to other form factors such as the pin grid array (PGA) and land grid array (LGA) in that the contacts used to connect the CPU, or processor, to the motherboard for physical media and electrical connectivity are arranged neatly in a grid-like format. BGA, however, gets its name from its type of contacts, which are tiny solder balls. This distinguishes it from PGA, which uses pin holes; and the LGA, which includes the pins. BGA, however, has yet to catch up with the popularity of the aforementioned chip form factors.
Like other sockets, the BGA socket is usually named after the number of contacts it carries. Examples include BGA 437 and BGA 441. Also, the BGA prefix can vary depending on the form factor variant used by the socket. For example, the FC-BGA 518, a 518-ball socket, uses the flip-chip ball grid array variant, which means it flips the computer chip so that the back of its die is exposed. This is especially beneficial for reducing the heat of the processor by placing a heat sink over it.
There are several other BGA variants. For example, ceramic ball grid array (CBGA) and plastic ball grid array (PBGA) refer to the ceramic and plastic material of which the socket is made, respectively. Micro ball grid array (MBGA) is an example of describing the size of the balls that make up the array. In some cases, prefixes are combined to indicate BGA sockets that have more than one distinguishing attribute. A prime example is mFCBGA, or micro-FCBGA, which means the BGA socket has smaller ball contacts and adheres to the flip-chip form factor.
One of the main advantages of the BGA socket is its ability to use hundreds of contacts with a considerable distance so that they do not stick together during the soldering process. Also, with the BGA socket there is less heat conduction between the component and the motherboard and it demonstrates electrical performance superior to other types of integrated circuits. There are some disadvantages, however, as BGA format contacts are not as flexible as other types. Also, BGA receptacles are generally not as mechanically reliable as those of PGA and LGA. As of May 2011, it lags behind the above two form factors, although semiconductor company Intel Corporation uses the socket for its low-voltage, low-performance Intel Atom brand.
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