• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.31-37
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• 2021

Sn-3wt%Ag-0.5wt%Cu (SAC305) solder is most popular solder in electronics industry. However, SAC305 has also drawbacks such as growth of β-Sn phase, intermetallic compounds (IMCs) of Ag3Sn, Cu6Sn5 and Cu3Sn which can result in deterioration of solder joints in terms of metallurgically, mechanically and electrically. Thus, improvement of SAC305 solders have been investigated continuously by addition of alloying elements, nano-particles and etc. In this paper, recent improvements of SAC solders including nano-composite alloys and related solderabilty and metallurgical and mechanical properties are investigated.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.82-88
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• 2007

Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu lead fee solder was generally utilized in electronics assemblies. But it is insufficient to research about activation energy(Q) that is applying to evaluate the solder joint reliability of environmental friendly electronics assemblies. Therefore this study investigated Q values which are needed to IMC formation and growth of Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu/Cu and Sn-40pb/Cu solder joints during aging treatment. We bonded Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu and Sn-40Pb solders on FR-4 PCB with Cu pad$(t=80{\mu}m)$. After reflow soldering, to observe the IMC formation and growth of the solder joints, test specimens were aged at 70, 150 and $170^{\circ}C$ for 1, 2, 5, 20, 60, 240, 960, 15840, 28800 and 43200 min, respectively. SEM and EDS were utilized to analysis the IMCS. From these results, we measured the total IMC$(Cu_6Sn_5+Cu_3Sn)$ thickness of Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu/Cu and Sn-40Pb/Cu interface, and then obtained Q values for the IMC$(Cu_6Sn_5,\;Cu_3Sn)$ growth of the solder joints.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.11 no.3 s.32
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• pp.47-53
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• 2004

Eutectic Au-20Sn(compositions are all in weight percent unless specified otherwise) solder alloys were soldered on the Ni substrate with various time and temperature. The composition, phase identification and morphology of intermetallic compounds(IMC) at the interface were examined using Scanning Electron Microscopy(SEM). There were two types of IMCs, $(Au,Ni)_3Sn_2$ and $(Au,Ni)_3Sn$ at the interface. The transition in morphology of $(Au,Ni)_3Sn_2$ has been observed at $300{\~}400^{\circ}C$. The morphology transition of $(Au,Ni)_3Sn_2$ is due to the decrease of enthalpy of formation of $(Au,Ni)_3Sn_2$ phase and has been explained well by Jackson's parameter with temperature. Because the number of diffusion channel is different at each soldering temperature, IMC thickness is nearly same at all temperature.

• International Journal of Korean Welding Society
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.15-28
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• 2005

The ball shear test was investigated in terms of the effects of test parameters, i.e., shear height and shear speed, with an experimental and non-linear finite element analysis for evaluating the solder joint integrity of area array packages. Two representative Pb-free solder compositions were examined in this work: Sn-3.5Ag-0.75Cu and In-48Sn. The substrate was a common SMD type with solder bond pad openings of 460 $\mu$m in diameter. The microstructural investigations were carried out using SEM, and the IMCs were identified with EDS. Shear tests were conducted with the two varying test parameters. It could be observed that increasing shear height, at fixed shear speed, has the effect of decreasing shear force for both Sn-3.5Ag-0.75Cu and In-48Sn solder joints, while the shear force increased with increasing shear speed at fixed shear height. Too high shear height could cause some undesirable effects on the test results such as unexpected high standard deviation values or shear tip sliding from the solder ball. The low shear height conditions were favorable for screening the type of brittle interfacial fractures or the degraded layers in the interfaces. The shear speed conditions were discussed with the stress analyses of the solder ball, and we cannot find any conspicuous finding which is related to optimum shear speed from the stress analyses.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.65-69
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• 2012

Environmental and health concerns over the lead have led to investigation of the alternative Pb-free solders to replace commonly used Pb-Sn solders in microelectronic packaging application. The leading candidates for lead-free solder alloys are presently the near eutectic Sn-Ag-Cu alloys. Therefore, extensive studies on reliability related with the composition have been reported. However, the insufficient drop property of the near eutectic Sn-Ag-Cu alloys has demanded solder compositions of low Ag content. In addition, the solder interconnections in automobile applications like a smart box require significantly improved vibration resistance. Therefore, this study investigated the effect of alloying elements (Ag, Bi, In) on the vibration fatigue strength. The vibration fatigue was conducted in 10~1000Hz frequency and 20Grms. The interface of the as-soldered cross section close to the Cu pad indicated the intermetallic compound ($Cu_6Sn_5$) regardless of solder composition. The type and thickness of IMC was not significantly changed after the vibration test. It indicates that no thermal activities occurred significantly during vibration. Furthermore, as a function of alloying composition, the vibration crack path was investigated with a focus on the IMCs. Vibration crack was initiated from the fillet surface of the heel for QFP parts and from the plating layer of chip parts. Regardless of the solder composition, the crack during a vibration test was propagated as same as that during a thermal fatigue test.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.19-24
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• 2015

Joint properties of electric control unit (ECU) module using Sn-Cu-(X)Al(Si) lead-free solder alloy were investigated for automotive electronics module. In this study, Sn-0.5Cu-0.01Al(Si) and Sn-0.5Cu-0.03Al(Si) (wt.%) lead-free alloys were fabricated as bar type by doped various weight percentages (0.01 and 0.03 wt.%) of Al(Si) alloy to Sn-0.5Cu. After fabrications of lead-free alloys, the ball-type solder alloys with a diameter of 450 um were made by rolling and punching. The melting temperatures of 0.01Al(Si) and 0.03Al(Si) were 230.2 and $230.8^{\circ}C$, respectively. To evaluation of properties of solder joint, test printed circuit board (PCB) finished with organic solderability perseveration (OSP) on Cu pad. The ball-type solders were attached to test PCB with flux and reflowed for formation of solder joint. The maximum temperature of reflow was $260^{\circ}C$ for 50s above melting temperature. And then, we measured spreadability and shear strength of two Al(Si) solder materials compared to Sn-0.7Cu solder material used in industry. And also, microstructures in solder and intermetallic compounds (IMCs) were observed. Moreover, thickness and grain size of $Cu_6Sn_5$ IMC were measured and then compared with Sn-0.7Cu. With increasing the amounts of Al(Si), the $Cu_6Sn_5$ thickness was decreased. These results show the addition of Al(Si) could suppress IMC growth and improve the reliability of solder joint.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.18 no.7
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• pp.1713-1721
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• 1994

Intermetallic-matrix composites(IMCs) have the potential of combing matrix properties of oxidation resistance and high temperature stability with reinforcement properties of high specific strength and modulus. One of the major limiting factors for successful applications of these composite at high temperatures is the formation of interfacial reactions between matrix and ceramic reinforcement during composite process and during service. The purpose of the present investigation is to develop a better understanding of the nature of creep fracture mechanisms in a $Ni_{3}Al$ composite reinforced with both $TiB_{2}$ and SiC particulates. Emphasis is placed in the roles of the products of the reactions in determining the creep lifetime of the composite. In the present study, creep rupture specimens were tested under constant ranging from 180 to 350 MPa in vacuum at $760^{\cric}C$. The experimental data reveal that the stress exponent for power law creep for the composite is 3.5, a value close to that for unreinforced $Ni_{3}Al$. The microstructural observations reveal that most of the cavities lie on the grain boundaries of the $Ni_{3}Al$ matrix as opposed to the large $TiB_{2}/Ni_{3}Al$ interfaces, suggesting that cavities nucleate at fine carbides that lie in the $Ni_{3}Al$ grain boundaries as a result of the decomposition of the $SiC_{p}$. This observation accounts for the longer rupture times for the monolicthic $Ni_{3}Al$ as compared to those for the $Ni_{3}Al/SiC_{p}/TiB_{2} IMC$. Finally, it is suggested that creep deformation in matrix appears to dominate the rupture process for monolithic $Ni_{3}Al$, whereas growth and coalescence of cavities appears to dominate the rupture process for the composite.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.30-32
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• 2006

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.

• 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.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.