Abstract
The interfacial reaction and reliability of eutectic Sn-Pb and Pb-free eutectic Sn-Ag ball-grid-array (BGA) solders with an immersion Ag-plated Cu substrate were evaluated following isothermal aging at $150^{\circ}C$. During reflowing, the topmost Ag layer was dissolved completely into the molten solder, leaving the Cu layer exposed to the molten solder for both solder systems. A typical scallop-type Cu-Sn intermetallic compound (IMC) layer was formed at both of the solder/Cu interfaces during reflowing. The thickness of the Cu-Sn IMCs for both solders was found to increase linearly with the square root of isothermal aging time. The growth of the $Cu_3Sn$ layer for the Sn-37Pb solder was faster than that for the Sn-3.5Ag solder, In the case of the Sn-37Pb solder, the formation of the Pb-rich layer on the Cu-Sn IMC layer retarded the growth of the $Cu_6Sn_5$ IMC layer, and thereby increased the growth rate of the $Cu_3Sn$ IMC layer. In the ball shear test conducted on the Sn-37Pb/Ag-plated Cu joint after aging for 500h, fracturing occurred at the solder/$Cu_6Sn_5$ interface. The shear failure was significantly related to the interfacial adhesion strength between the Pb-rich and $Cu_6Sn_5$ IMC layers. On the other hand, all fracturing occurred in the bulk solder for the Sn-3.5Ag/Ag-plated Cu joint, which confirmed its desirable joint reliability.
