• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.142-147
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• 2010

We evaluated characteristics of ENEPIG (Electroless Nickel Electroless Palladium Immersion Gold) surface treatment for mobile equipment that requires high reliability, in addition to investigating surface treatment processes for semiconductor boards that require high reliability such as regular PCB-package systems, board-on-chip, chip-scaled package (CSP), etc and application for semiconductor package board of SIP, BOC. As a result, it appeared that ENEPIG has superior properties compared to ENIG surface treatment in corrosion resistance, solder junction, wetting, etc. We anticipate that these results will be able to lend credibility to ENEPIG as a low-cost alternative for producing mobile devices such as the cell phones, especially when applied to mass production.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.29-34
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• 2020

The behavior of brittle fracture of electroless nickel immersion gold (ENIG) /Sn-3.0wt.%Ag-0.5wt.%Cu (SAC305) solder joints was evaluated. The pH of the electroless nickel plating solution for ENIG surface treatment was changed from 4.0 to 5.5. As the pH of the Ni plating solution increased, pin hole in the Ni-P layer increased. The thickness of the interfacial intermetallic compound (IMC) of the solder joint increased with pH of Ni plating solution. The high speed shear strength of the SAC305 solder joint on ENIG surface finish decreased with the pH of the Ni plating solution. In addition, the brittle fracture rate of the solder joint was the highest when the pH of the Ni plating solution was 5.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.55-61
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• 2010

An impact bending test method was used to evaluate the reliability for the solder joint of lead-free solder ball. In order to standardize the test method, the four point impact bending test was applied under the conditions of various frequencies and amounts of +/-amplitude respectively. Effects on the results were analysed. The optimum condition for impact bending test achieved in this study was the frequency of 10 Hz, and the amplitude of (+12/-1)~(+15/-1). 3 kinds of surface finishes Cu-OSP (Organic Solderability Preservative), ENIG (Electroless Nickel Immersion Gold), and ENEPIG (Electroless Nickel, Electroless Palladium, Immersion Gold) were used. Fracture surface showed that cracks were initiated and fractured along the intermetallic layer in the case of surface finishes of Cu-OSP and ENIG, while in the case of ENEPIG the cracks were initiated and propagated in the solder region.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.63-71
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• 2022

In this study, the interfacial reaction and drop impact reliability of Sn-Ag-Cu (SAC) solder and electroless nickel autocatalytic gold (ENAG) were studied. In addition, the solder joint properties with the ENAG surface finish was compared with electroless nickel immersion gold (ENIG) and electroless nickel electroless palladium immersion gold (ENEPIG). The IMC thickness of SAC/ENAG and SAC/ENEPIG were 1.15 and 1.12 ㎛, respectively, which were similar each other. The IMC thickness of the SAC/ENIG was 2.99 ㎛, which was about two times higher than that of SAC/ENAG. Moreover, it was found that the IMC thickness of the solder joint was affected by the metal turnover (MTO) condition of the electroless Ni(P) plating solution, and it was found that the IMC thickness increased when the MTO increased from 0 to 3. The shear strength of SAC/ENEPIG was the highest, followed by SAC/ENAG and SAC/ENIG. It was found that when the MTO increased, the shear strength was lowered. In terms of brittle fracture, SAC/ENEPIG was the lowest among the three joints, followed by SAC/ENAG and SAC/ENIG. Likewise, it was found that as MTO increased, brittle fracture increased. In the drop impact test, it was confirmed that the 0 MTO condition had a higher average number of failures than the 3 MTO condition, and the average number of failures was also higher in the order of SAC/ENEIG, SAC/ENAG, and SAC/ENIG. As a result of observing the fracture surface after the drop impact, it was found that the fracture was between the IMC and the Ni(P) layer.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.11-17
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• 2009

The drop impact reliability comes to be important for evaluation of the life time of mobile electronic products such as cellular phone. The drop impact reliability of solder joint is generally affected by the kinds of pad and reflow number, therefore, the reliability evaluation is needed. Drop impact test proposed by JEDEC has been used as a standard method, however, which requires high cost and long time. The drop impact reliability can be indirectly evaluated by using high speed shear test of solder joints. Solder joints formed on 3 kinds of surface finishes OSP (Organic Solderability Preservation), ENIG (Electroless Nickel Immersion Gold) and ENEPIG (Electroless Nickel Electroless Palladium Immersion Gold) was investigated. The shear strength was analysed with the morphology change of intermetallic compound (IMC) layer according to reflow number. The layer thickness of IMC was increased with the increase of reflow number, which resulted in the decrease of the high speed shear strength and impact energy. The order of the high speed shear strength and impact energy was ENEPIG > ENIG > OSP after the 1st reflow, and ENEPIG > OSP > ENIG after 8th reflow.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.166-173
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• 2014

The effects of printed circuit board electroless nickel immersion gold (ENIG) and organic solderability preservative (OSP) surface finishes on the electromigration reliability and shear strength of Sn-3.5Ag Pb-free solder bump were systematically investigated. In-situ annealing tests were performed in a scanning electron microscope chamber at 130, 150, and $170^{\circ}C$ in order to investigate the growth kinetics of intermetallic compound (IMC). Electromigration lifetime and failure modes were investigated at $150^{\circ}C$ and $1.5{\times}10^5A/cm^2$, while ball shear tests and failure mode analysis were conducted under the high-speed conditions from 10 mm/s to 3000 mm/s. The activation energy of ENIG and OSP surface finishes during annealing were evaluated as 0.84 eV and 0.94 eV, respectively. The solder bumps with ENIG surface finish showed longer electromigration lifetime than OSP surface finish. Shear strengths between ENIG and OSP were similar, and the shear energies decreased with increasing shear speed. Failure analysis showed that electrical and mechanical reliabilities were very closely related to the interfacial IMC stabilities.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.7-11
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• 2009

In this study, solder joints were made with Sn-3.5Ag (wt%) solder ball. Electroless nickel / immersion gold (ENIG) printed circuit board (PCB) substrates were employed in this work. The mechanical and electrical properties were measured as a function of the number of reflow. Die shear strength was measured with increasing reflow number. Until the forth or fifth reflow, shear force increased and after the fifth reflow the shear force of die decreased. The electrical resistivity of solder joint linearly increased with increasing reflow number.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.57-64
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• 2012

Ball shear test was performed by test variables such as loading speed and annealing time in order to investigate the effect of surface finishes on the bonding strength of Sn-1.2Ag-0.7Cu-0.4In Pb-free solder. The shear strength increased and the ductility decreased with increasing shear speed. With increasing shear speed, the electroless nickel immersion gold (ENIG) finish showed dominant brittle fracture mode, while organic solderability preservative (OSP) finish showed pad open fracture mode. The shear strength and toughness for both surface finishes decreased with increasing annealing time under the high-speed shear test of 500 mm/s. Typically, the thickness of intermetallic compound increased with increasing annealing time, which means that exposure of brittle fracture became much easier. With increasing annealing time, the both ENIG and OSP finishes exhibited the pad open fracture mode. Overall, ENIG finish showed higher shear strength rather than OSP finish due to its superior barrier stability.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.237-242
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• 2011

The effect of shearing speed on the shear force and energy of Sn-0Ag-0.5Cu solder ball was investigated. Various UBM (under bump metallurgy)'s on Cu pads were used such as ENEPIG (Electroless Nickel, Electroless Palladium, Immersion Gold; Ni/Pd/Au), ENIG (Electroless Nickel, Immersion Gold; Ni/Au), OSP (Organic Solderability Preservative). To fabricate a shear test specimen, a solder ball, $300{\mu}m$ in diameter, was soldered on a pad of FR4 PCB (printed circuit board) by a reflow soldering machine at $245^{\circ}C$. The solder bump on the PCB was shear tested by changing the shearing speed from 0.01 m/s to 3.0 m/s. As experimental results, the shear force increased with a shearing speed of up to 0.6 m/s for the ENIG and the OSP pads, and up to 0 m/s for the ENEPIG pad. The shear energy increased with a shearing speed up to 0.3 m/s for the ENIG and the OSP pads, and up to 0.6 m/s for the ENEPIG pad. With a high shear speed of over 0 m/s, the ENEPIG showed a higher shear force and energy than those of the ENIG and OSP. The fracture surfaces of the shear tested specimens were analyzed, and the fracture modes were found to have closer relationship with the shear energy than the shear force.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.167-169
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• 2016

Solder/electroless nickel immersion gold (ENIG) joint sample which is comprised of dissimilar materials with different mechanical properties has limited the level of success in preparing thin samples for transmission electron microscopy (TEM). This short technical note reports the operation parameters for ultramicrotomy of solder joint sample and TEM analysis results. The solder joint sample was successfully sliced to 50~70 nm thick lamellae at slicing speed of 0.8~1.2 mm/s using a boat-type $45^{\circ}$ diamond knife. Ultramicrotomy can be applied as a routine sample preparation technique for TEM analysis of solder joints.