In contrast with consumer SSDs or an industrial SSD derived from a consumer series, an SSD specially designed for industrial applications needs to handle the temperature changes that are common for industrial or networking applications. The changes in temperature can have environmental reasons, such as cold temperatures at night and high temperatures during the day, but they could also be caused by changing load conditions that heat up the controller. These temperature conditions cause thermal stress to the solder connections which, if not taken care of, can cause cracks between the package ball and the PCB. One of the main sources of mechanical stress are different thermal expansion factors between the BGA package and the PCB. Swissbit has reduced this stress by using a special PCB base material with a reduced expansion factor. In addition, if necessary, they use a solder paste which is slightly softer than the standard lead free solder, which also reduces the mechanical stress to the solder connection. Dependent on necessity, the component package may even be underfilled. The criteria for each measure is that the SSD needs to pass the Swissbit temperature cycle test, where during qualification the SSD has to pass at least 500 cycles of temperature changes from -40 to 125°C. This is not easily achieved, as is shown in competitor products that are equally submitted to the test and which often fail with cracks between the ball and the BGA package, as can be seen on the microsection on this slide.