• Proceedings of the International Microelectronics And Packaging Society Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.84-87
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• 2003

Since Pb-free solder alloys have been used extensively in microelectronic packaging industry, the interaction between UBM (Under Bump Metallurgy) and solder is a critical issue because IMC (Intermetallic Compound) at the interface is critical for the adhesion of mechanical and the electrical contact for flip chip bonding. IMC growth must be fast during the reflow process to form stable IMC. Too fast IMC growth, however, is undesirable because it causes the dewetting of UBM and the unstable mechanical stability of thick IMC. UP to now. Ni and Cu are the most popular UBMs because electroplating is lower cost process than thin film deposition in vacuum for Al/Ni(V)/Cu or phased Cr-Cu. The consumption rate and the growth rate of IMC on Ni are lower than those of Cu. In contrast, the wetting of solder bumps on Cu is better than Ni. In addition, the residual stress of Cu is lower than that of Ni. Therefore, the alloy of Cu and Ni could be used as optimum UBM with both advantages of Ni and Cu. In this paper, the interfacial reactions of Sn-3.5Ag-0.7Cu solder on Ni-xCu alloy UBMs were investigated. The UBMs of Ni-Cu alloy were made on Si wafer. Thin Cr film and Cu film were used as adhesion layer and electroplating seed layer, respectively. And then, the solderable layer, Ni-Cu alloy, was deposited on the seed layer by electroplating. The UBM consumption rate and intermetallic growth on Ni-Cu alloy were studied as a function of time and Cu contents. And the IMCs between solder and UBM were analyzed with SEM, EDS, and TEM.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.67-74
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• 2011

Keys to high wiring density semiconductor packages include flip-chip bonding and build-up substrate technologies. The current issues are the establishment of a fine pitch flip-chip bonding technology and a low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) substrate technology. In particular, electromigration and thermomigration in fine pitch flipchip joints have been recognized as a major reliability issue. In this paper, electromigration and thermomigration in Cu/Sn-3Ag-0.5Cu (SAC305)/Cu flip-chip joints and electromigration in Cu/In/Cu flip chip joints are investigated. In the electromigration test, a large electromigration void nucleation at the cathode, large growth of intermetallic compounds (IMCs) at the anode, a unique solder bump deformation towards the cathode, and the significantly prolonged electromigration lifetime with the underfill were observed in both types of joints. In addition, the effects of crystallographic orientation of Sn on electromigration were observed in the Cu/SAC305/Cu joints. In the thermomigration test, Cu dissolution was accelerated on the hot side, and formation of IMCs was enhanced on the cold side at a thermal gradient of about $60^{\circ}C$/cm, which was lower than previously reported. The rate of Cu atom migration was found comparable to that of electromigration under current conditions.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.310-314
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• 2008

Electromigration test of flip chip solder bump is performed at $140^{\circ}C$ C and $4.6{\times}10^4A/cm^2$ conditions in order to compare electromigration with thermomigration behaviors by using electroplated Sn-3.5Ag solder bump with Cu under-bump-metallurgy. As a result of measuring resistance with stressing time, failure mechanism of solder bump was evaluated to have four steps by the fail time. Discrete steps of resistance change during electromigration test are directly compared with microstructural evolution of cross-sectioned solder bump at each step. Thermal gradient in solder bump is very high and the contribution of thermomigration to atomic flux is comparable with pure electromigration effect.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.505-509
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• 2002

Pb is considered to be eliminated from solder, due to its toxicity. However, melting temperatures of most Pb-free solders are known higher than that of Sn37Pb. Therefore, there is a difficulty to apply Pb-free solders to electronic industry. Since Sn3Ag8Bi5In has relatively lower melting range as $188~200^{\circ}C$, on this study. Wettability and soldering characteristics of Sn3Ag8Bi5In solder in BGA were investigated to solve for what kind of problem. Zero cross time, wetting time, and equilibrium force of Sn3Ag8Bi5In solder for Cu and plated Cu such as Sn, Ni, and Au/Ni-plated on Cu were estimated. Plated Sn on Cu showed best wettability for zero cross time, wetting time and equilibrium farce. Shear strength of the reflowed joint with Sn3Ag8Bi5In ball in BGA was investigated. Diameter of the ball was 0.5mm, UBM(under bump metallurgy) was $Au(0.5\mu\textrm{m})Ni(5\mu\textrm{m})/Cu(18\mu\textrm{m})$ and flux was RMA type. For the reflow soldering, the peak reflow temperature was changed in the range of $220~250^{\circ}C$, and conveyor speed was 0.6m/min.. The shear strength of Sn3Ag8Bi5In ball showed similar level as those of Sn37Pb. The soldered balls are aged at $110^{\circ}C$ for 36days and their shear strengths were evaluated. The shear strength of Sn3Ag8Bi5In ball was increased from 480gf to 580gf by aging for 5 days.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.29-35
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• 2003

The Sn-based lead-free solders with varying microstructure were prepared by changing the cooling rate from the melt. Bulky as-cast SnAg, SnAgCu, and SnCu, alloys were cold rolled and thermally stabilized before the creep tests so that there would be very small amount of microstructural change during creep (TS), and thin specimens were water quenched from the melt (WQ) to simulate microstructures of the as-reflowed solders in flip chips. Cooling rates of the WQ specimens were 140∼150 K/sec, and the resultant $\beta-Sn$ globule size was 5∼10 times smaller than that of the TS specimens. Subsequent creep tests showed that the minimum strain rate of TS specimens was about $10_2$ times higher than that of the WQ specimens. Fractographic analyses showed that creep rupture of the TS-SnAgCu specimens occurred by the nucleation of voids on the $Ag_3Sn$ Sn or $Cu_6Sn_5$ particles in the matrix, their subsequent growth by the power-law creep, and inter-linkage of microcracks to form macrocracks which led to the fast failure. On the other hand, no creep voids were found in the WQ specimens due to the mode III shear rupture coming from the thin specimens geometry.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.250-255
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• 2008

This study utilized a high speed lap-shear test to evaluate the mechanical behavior of Sn-37Pb/Cu and Sn-37Pb/Electroless Nickel immersion Gold under bump metallization solder joints under high speed loading and hence the drop reliability. The samples were aged for 120 h at different temperatures ($120^{\circ}C,\;150^{\circ}C,\;170^{\circ}C$) and afterward tested at different displacement rates (0.01 mm/s to 500 mm/s) to examine the effects of aging on the drop life reliability. The combination of the stress-strain graphs captured from the shear tests and identifying a fracture mode dominant in the samples for different strain rates leads us to conclude that the drop reliability of solder joints degrades as the aging temperature increases, possibly due to the role of the IMC layer. This study successfully demonstrates that the analysis based on a high speed lap-shear test could be critically used to evaluate the drop reliability of solder joints.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.245-247
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• 2007

Sn-base solder bump is mainly used in micro-joining for flip chip package. The quantity of intermetallic compounds that was formed between Cu pad and solder interface importantly affects reliability. In this research, micro-bump was fabricated by two binary electroplating and the intermetallic compounds(IMCs) was estimated quantitatively. When the micro Sn-Ag solder bump was made by electroplating, SiC powder was added in the plating solution for protecting of intermetallic growth. Then, the intermetallic compounds growth was decrease with increase of amount of SiC power. However, if the mount of SiC particle exceeds 4 g/L, the effect of the growth restraint decrease rapidly.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 1999.05a
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• pp.708-711
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• 1999

The Cu/Ni/Au lamellar structure is extensively used as an under bump metallization on silicon file, and on printed circuit board(PCB) pads. Ni is plated Cu by either electroless Ni plating, or electrolytic Ni plating. Unlike the electrolytic Ni plating, the electroless Ni plating does not deposit pure Ni, but a mixture of Ni and phosphorous, because hypophosphite Is used in the chemical reaction for reducing Ni ions. The fracture crack extended at the interface between solder balls of plastic ball grid (PBGA) package and conducting pads of PCB. The fracture is duets to segregation at the interface between Ni$_3$Sn$_4$intermetallic and Ni-P layer. The XPS diffraction results of Cu/Ni/Au results of CU/Ni/AU finishs showed that the Ni was amorphous with supersaturated P. The XPS and EDXA results of the fracture surface indicated that both of the fracture occurred on the transition lesion where Sn, P and Ni concentrations changed.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.1-7
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• 2008

We studied a growth behavior of Intermetallic compounds(IMCs) during solder bumping with two reflow methods. Ti(50 nm), Cu($1{\mu}m$), Au(50 nm) and Ti(50 nm) thin films were deposited on $SiO_2$/Si wafer using the DC magnetron sputtering system as the under bump metallization(UBM). And the $5{\mu}m$ thick Cu bumps and $20{\mu}m$ thick Sn bumps were fabricated on UBM by electroplating. Sn bumps were reflowed in RTA(Rapid Thermal Annealing) system and convection reflow oven. When RTA system was used, reflow was possible without using flux and IMC thickness formed in the solder interface was thinner than that of a convectional method.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.709-710
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• 2009