• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.15-20
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• 2007

Growth kinetics of intermetallic compound (IMC) at various interface in Cu pillar bump during aging have been studied by thermal aging at 120, 150 and $165^{\circ}C$ for 300h. In result, $Cu_6Sn_5\;and\;Cu_3Sn$ were observed in the Cu pillar/SnPb interface and IMC growth followed parabolic law with increasing aging temperatures and time. Also, growth kinetics of IMC layer was faster for higher aging temperature with time. Kirkendall void formed at interface between Cu pillar and $Cu_3Sn$ as well as within the $Cu_3Sn$ layer and propagated with increasing time. $(Cu,Ni)_6Sn_5$ formed at interface between SnPb and Ni(P) after reflow and thickness change of $(Cu,Ni)_6Sn_5$ didn't observe with aging time. The apparent activation energies for growth of total $(Cu_6Sn_5+Cu_3Sn),\;Cu_6Sn_5\;and\;Cu_3Sn$ intermetallics from measurement of the IMC thickness with thermal aging temperature and time were 1.53, 1.84 and 0.81 eV, respectively.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.17-24
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• 2008

Thermal annealing and electromigration test were performed at $150^{\circ}C$ and $150^{\circ}C,\;5{\times}10^4\;A/cm^2$ conditions, respectively, in order to compare the growth kinetics of intermetallic compound(IMC) in Cu pillar bump. The quantitative interfacial adhesion energy with annealing was measured by using four-point bending strength test in order to assess the effect of IMC growth on the mechanical reliability of Cu pillar bump. Only $Cu_6Sn_5$ was observed in the Cu pillar/Sn interface after reflow. However, $Cu_3Sn$ formed and grew at Cu pillar/$Cu_6Sn_5$ interface with increasing annealing and stressing time. The growth kinetics of total($Cu_6Sn_5+Cu_3Sn$) IMC changed when all Sn phases in Cu pillar bump were exhausted. The complete consumption time of Sn phase in electromigration condition was faster than that in annealing condition. The quantitative interfacial adhesion energy after 24h at $180^{\circ}C$ was $0.28J/m^2$ while it was $3.37J/m^2$ before annealing. Therefore, the growth of IMC seem to strongly affect the mechanical reliability of Cu pillar bump.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2001.05a
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• pp.277-278
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• 2001

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.134-141
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• 2013

Reflow soldering process is essential in electronic package. Reflow process for a long time results from the decrease of reliability because IMC is formed excessively. Solder alloys of Sn-37Pb and Sn-Ag with different kinds of Cu contents (0, 0.5 and 1 wt.%) as compared with Ni and Cu plate joints are investigated according to varying reflow time. The interfaces of solder joints are observed to analyze IMC (intermetallic compound) growth rate by scanning electron microscope (SEM). Shear test is also performed by using SP (Share-Punch) tester. The test results are compared with the solder joints of two different plates (Ni and Cu plate). $Cu_6Sn_5$ IMCs are formed on Cu plate interfaces after reflows in all samples. Ni3Sn4 and $(Cu,Ni)_6Sn_5$ IMCs are also formed on Ni plate interfaces. The IMC layer forms are affected by reflow time and contents of solder alloy. These results show that mechanical strength of solder joints strongly depends on thickness and shape of IMC.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.35-41
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• 2022

In the era of Fifth-Generation (5G), technology requirements such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cloud computing, automatic vehicles, and smart manufacturing are increasing. For high efficiency of electronic devices, research on high-intensity circuits and packaging for miniaturized electronic components is important. A solder paste which consists of small solder powders is one of common solder for high density packaging, whereas an electroplated solder has limitation of uniformity of bump composition. Researches are underway to improve wettability through the addition of nanoparticles into a solder paste or the surface finish of a substrate, and to suppress the formation of IMC growth at the metal pad interface. This paper describes the principles of improving the wettability of solder paste and suppressing interfacial IMC growth by addition of nanoparticles.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.180-186
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• 2011

Isothermal annealing and electromigration tests were performed at $125^{\circ}C$ and $125^{\circ}C$, $3.6{\times}10_4A/cm^2$ conditions, respectively, in order to compare the growth kinetics of the intermetallic compound (IMC) in the Cu/thin Sn/Cu bump. $Cu_6Sn_5$ and $Cu_3Sn$ formed at the Cu/thin Sn/Cu interfaces where most of the Sn phase transformed into the $Cu_6Sn_5$ phase. Only a few regions of Sn were not consumed and trapped between the transformed regions. The limited supply of Sn atoms and the continued proliferation of Cu atoms enhanced the formation of the $Cu_3Sn$ phase at the Cu pillar/$Cu_6Sn_5$ interface. The IMC thickness increased linearly with the square root of annealing time, and increased linearly with the current stressing time, which means that the current stressing accelerated the interfacial reaction. Abrupt changes in the IMC growth velocities at a specific testing time were closely related to the phase transition from $Cu_6Sn_5$ to $Cu_3Sn$ phases after complete consumption of the remaining Sn phase due to the limited amount of the Sn phase in the Cu/thin Sn/Cu bump, which implies that the relative thickness ratios of Cu and Sn significantly affect Cu-Sn IMC growth kinetics.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.12 no.2 s.35
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• pp.95-103
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• 2005

The interfacial reaction between 42Sn-58Bi solder (in wt.$\%$ unless specified otherwise) and electroless Ni-P/immersion Au has been investigated before and after thermal aging, with a focus on formation and growth of an intermetallic compound (IMC) layer, consumption of under bump metallurgy (UBM), and bump shear strength. The immersion Au layer with thicknesses of 0 (bare Ni), 0.1, and $1{\mu}m$ was plated on the $5{\mu}m$ thick electroless Ni-P ($14{\~}15 at.\%$P) layer. Then, the 42Sn-58Bi solder balls were fabricated on three different UBM structures by screen-printing and pre-reflow. The $Ni_3Sn_4$ layer (IMC1) was formed at the joint interface after pre-reflow for all the three UBM structures. On aging at $125^{\circ}C$, a quaternary phase (IMC2) was observed above the $Ni_3Sn_4$ layer in the Au-containing UBM structures, which was identified as $Sn_{77}Ni{15}Bi_6Au_2$ (in at.$\%$). The thick $Sn_{77}Ni{15}Bi_6Au_2$ layer deteriorated the integrity of the solder joint and the shear strength of the solder bump was decreased by about $40\%$ compared with non-aged joints.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.1-10
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• 2023

Recently, as the demand for high-performance computers and mobile products increases, semiconductor packages are becoming high-integration and high-density. Therefore, in order to transmit a large amount of data at once, micro bumps such as flip-chip and Cu pillar that can reduce bump size and pitch and increase I/O density are used. However, when the size of the bumps is smaller than 70 ㎛, the brittleness increases and electrical properties decrease due to the rapid increase of the IMC volume fraction in the solder joint, which deteriorates the reliability of the solder joint. Therefore, in order to improve these issues, a layer that serves to prevent diffusion is inserted between the UBM (Under Bump Metallization) or pillar and the solder cap. In this review paper, various studies to improve bonding properties by suppressing excessive IMC growth of micro-bumps through additional layer insertion were compared and analyzed.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.346-351
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• 1999

To develop a lactic starter to produce antimicrobial substance for inhibiting the growth of a variety of foodborne spoilage bacteria in fermented foods, we investigated the anti-bacterial effect of the antibacterial substance, produced by Lactobacillus amylovorus IMC-1, against foodborne spoilage strains, and its sensitivity on the treatment of proteolytic enzymes. L. amylovorus IMC-1, which was isolated from a traditional cheese in Inner Mongolia, produced a maximum amount of antibacterial substance in the skim milk medium after 72 h incubation at 37$^{\circ}C$, and further incubation resulted in the same activity. The substance obtained from gel filtration inhibited all strains used such as Bacillus subtilis IFO 3025, Staphylococcus aureus IAM 1011, Listeria monocytogenes VTU 206, Escherichia coli RB, and Pseudomonas fragi IFO 3458 at the concentration of 20 units/ml. This substance was found to show bactericidal action against B. subtilis, E. coli, and Ps. fragi, and bacteriostatic activity against both Staph. aureus and L. monocytogenes. The bactericidal action was due to cellular Iysis. The substance is not organic acid, hydrogen peroxide and proteinaceous compound.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.49-55
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• 2011

The failure of electronic instruments is mostly caused by heat and shock. This shock causes the crack initiation at the solder joint interface of PCB component which is closely related with the formation of intermetallic compound(IMC). The Ag content in Pb-free Sn-xAg-0.5Cu solder alloy used in this study was 1.0, 1.2 and 3.0 wt.%, respectively. After soldering with PCB component, isothermal aging was performed to 1000 hrs. The growth of IMC layer was observed during isothermal aging. The drop impact property of solder joint was evaluated by impact bending test method. The solder joint made with the solder containing lower Ag content showed better impact bending property compared with that with higher Ag content. On the contrary to this result, the solder joint made with solder containing higher Ag content showed better impact bending property after aging. It should be caused by the formation of fine $Ag_3Sn$, which relieved the impact. It showed consequently the different effect of fine $Ag_3Sn$ and coarse $Cu_6Sn_5$ particles formed in the IMC layer on the impact bending property.