North Atlantic Industries (NAI) recently received a customer return of an NIU1A (Nano Interface Unit) that had suffered significant damage during high speed flight testing.

The customer requested that we explore the feasibility of retrieving data from the non-volatile SATA memory within the NIU1A. This data could help them understand issues related to their aircraft.

The ZynQ 7015 with Dual Core ARM® Cortex®-A9 processing circuit card assembly was destroyed. However, the SATA Flash BGA chip which is underfilled with extremely low thermal coefficient of expansion underfill epoxy resin to support high shock and vibration exposure, survived the impact. Removal of underfilled BGA device is difficult and tedious work.

NAI was able to remove the SATA chip. This process is challenging as the underfill material is very difficult to remove without stressing or damaging the BGA. After removing the BGA, no physical damage was observed. The BGA pads appeared to be intact.

The BGA would require extensive cleaning and re-balling in order to fit the SATA device on a new NIU1A to read the data. The process was a success! This would not have been possible without the dedicated team at NAI who design and build rugged products. Always going the extra mile to support customers.