Thermo-mechanical behaviors of wire-bond plastic ball grid array (WB-PBGA) package assemblies are characterized by high-sensitivity moire interferometry. Using the real-time moire setup, fringe patterns are recorded and analyzed for several temperatures. Experiments are conducted for three types of WB-PBGA package that have full grid pattern and perimeter pattern with/without central connections. Bending deformations of the assemblies and average strains of the solder balls are investigated, with an emphasis on the effect of solder interconnection grid patterns, Thermal strain distributions and the location of the critical solder ball in package assemblies are quite different with the form of solder ball grid pattern. For the WB-PBGA-PC, The largest of effective strain occurred in the inner solder ball of perimeter closest to the chip solder balls. The critical solder ball is located at the edge of the chip for the WB-PBGA-FG, at the most outer solder ball of central connections for the WB-PBGA-P/C, and at the inner solder ball closest to the chip for the WB-PBGA-P.