• Journal of Welding and Joining
• /
• v.21 no.7
• /
• pp.59-64
• /
• 2003

Microstructure and shear strength of Sn-Zn lead-free solders and Au/Ni/Cu UBM joint under thermal aging conditions was investigated. The samples were aged isothermally at 10$0^{\circ}C$ and 15$0^{\circ}C$ for 300, 600, and 900 hours. The IMCs(Intermetallic Compound) at the interface between solder and UBM were examined by FESEM and TEM. The results showed that the shear strength was decreased with aging time and temperature. The solder ball with high activated RA flux had about 8.2% higher shear strength than that of RMA flux. Poor wetting and many voids were observed in the fractured solder joint with of RMA flux. The decreased shear strengths were caused by IMC growth and Zn grain coarsening. Zn reacted with Au and then was transformed to the $\beta$ -AuZn compound. Although AuZn grew first, $r-Ni_5Zn_{21}$ compounds were formed with aging time. The layers indicated by $Ni_5Zn_{21}(1)$, (2), and (3) were formed with the thickness of ∼0.7 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$, ∼4 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$, and ∼2 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$, respectively.

• Journal of Applied Reliability
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.109-116
• /
• 2013

The solder is any of various fusible alloys, usually tin and lead, used to join metallic parts that provide the contact between the chip package and the printed circuit board. Solder plays an important role of electrical signals to communicate between the two components. In this study, two kinds of Ag-free solder as sample is made to conduct the thermal shock test and the high humidity temperature test. Low resistance is measured to estimate crack size of solder, using daisy chain. The low speed shear test is also performed to analyze strength of solder. The appropriate degradation model is estimated using the result data. Depending on the composition of solder, lifetime estimation is conducted by adopted degradation model. The lifetime estimated two kinds of Ag-free solder is compared with expected lifetime of Sn-Ag-Cu solder. The result is that both Ag-free composition are more reliable than Sn-Ag-Cu solder.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
• /
• v.35 no.3
• /
• pp.21-27
• /
• 2017

A soldering temperature of ($235{\pm}3$) $^{\circ}C$ is described in ISO 9455-15 for the copper corrosion test. However, this temperature is not suitable for performing lead-free solder pastes. We evaluated the compatibility of a lead-free solder paste in the experimental conditions of (Liquidus temperature + ($35{\pm}3$)) $^{\circ}C$. Based on the results after a Cu corrosion test, a proper temperature for Pb-free soldering was (melting point+($35{\pm}3$)) $^{\circ}C$. Criteria used to evaluate corrosion due to discoloration of flux residue is described in ISO 9455-15, but a more quantitative evaluation standard is needed. In this study, experimental error level was estimated by analyzing flux residue after a corrosion test for 72, 500 hours of specimens using EDS analysis with acceleration voltage. It was determined that the copper area at the flux residue boundary is suitable for the EDS analysis area.

• Proceedings of the Korean Reliability Society Conference
• /
• 2005.06a
• /
• pp.385-392
• /
• 2005

The restriction of the use of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment legislation mandates the substitution of lead and other hazardous substances in electronics products by July 2006. Due to this legislative pressure, the electronics industry is moving to adoption of lead free solders. In this paper, we investigated a flux to restrict generating electrochemical migration in lead-free solder. The lead-free solders used in this study were Sn-0.7Cu-0.01P and Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu. To measure the resistance of electrochemical migration, the dew-cycle test and water drop test were adopted. As the result, now flux having high durable of electrochemical migration was developed.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.25-30
• /
• 2018

Sn-Pb solder has been used in automotive electronics for decades. However, recently, due to the environmental and health concerns, some international environmental organizations such as the end-of-life vehicle (ELV) enacted legislation banning of the Pb usage in automotive electronics. For this reason, many studies to develop and promote Pb-free soldering have been significantly reported. Meanwhile, because of flexibility and lightweight, flexible printed circuit boards (FPCBs) have been increasingly used in automotive electronics for lightweight to improve fuel efficiency and space utilization. Although the properties of lead-free solders for automotive electronics have been widely studied, there is a lack of research on the reliability performance of the lead-free solder joint on FPCB under user conditions. This study reported the properties of solder joints between Pb-free solders such as Sn3.0Ag0.5Cu, Sn0.7Cu and Sn0.5Cu0.01Al (Si), and various FPCBs finished with organic solderability preservative (OSP) and electroless nickel immersion gold (ENIG). To evaluate on joint properties and reliabilities with different solder compositions and surface-finishing materials, pull strength test, thermal shock test, and bending cycle test were performed and analyzed. After the bending cycle test of solder joint on OSP-finishing, the fractures were occurred in solder and the lifetime of Sn3.0Ag0.5Cu solder joint was the longest.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.17-27
• /
• 2011

This paper describes an experimental study and finite element analysis (FEA) carried out for investigating thermal deformation behavior of solders, resulting from temperature change in the solder. With such a goal in mind, a shear specimen that was composed of two metal bars having different coefficient of thermal expansion and solder blocks placed between two bars was designed and fabricated. Two different types of solder blocks, eutectic solder (Sn/36Pb/ 2Ag) and lead-free solder (Sn/3.0Ag/0.5Cu) were tested as well. Fringe patterns for several temperature steps were recorded and analyzed for three temperature cycles using a real-time moir$\acute{e}$ setup. The experimental data was verified with FEA and used to evaluate the suitability for numerous solder constitutive models available in literatures. FEA employing Anand material model suggested by Darveaux et al. and Chang et al. were found to be in an excellent agreement with the experimental results for the eutectic solder and the lead-free solder, respectively. In addition, numerical predictions on bending displacement, shear strain and viscoplastic distortion energy are documented and viscoplastic deformation behavior of two types of solder material are compared.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.12 no.9
• /
• pp.750-760
• /
• 2002

In this study, three solders, Sn-37Pb, Sn-3.5Ag, and Sn-3.8Ag-0.7Cu were screen printed on both electroless Ni/Au and OSP metal finished micro-via PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards). The interfacial reaction between PCB metal pad finish materials and solder materials, and its effects on the solder bump joint mechanical reliability were investigated. The lead free solders formed a large amount of intermetallic compounds (IMC) than Sn-37Pb on both electroless Ni/Au and OSP (Organic Solderabilty Preservatives) finished PCBs during solder reflows because of the higher Sn content and higher reflow temperature. For OSP finish, scallop-like $Cu_{6}$ /$Sn_{5}$ and planar $Cu_3$Sn intermetallic compounds (IMC) were formed, and fracture occurred 100% within the solder regardless of reflow numbers and solder materials. Bump shear strength of lead free solders showed higher value than that of Sn-37Pb solder, because lead free solders are usually harder than eutectic Sn-37Pb solder. For Ni/Au finish, polygonal shaped $Ni_3$$Sn_4$ IMC and P-rich Ni layer were formed, and a brittle fracture at the Ni-Sn IMC layer or the interface between Ni-Sn intermetallic and P-rich Ni layer was observed after several reflows. Therefore, bump shear strength values of the Ni/Au finish are relatively lower than those of OSP finish. Especially, spalled IMCs at Sn-3.5Ag interface was observed after several reflow times. And, for the Sn-3.8Ag-0.7Cu solder case, the ternary Sn-Ni-Cu IMCs were observed. As a result, it was found that OSP finished PCB was a better choice for solders on PCB in terms of flip chip mechanical reliability.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.35-40
• /
• 2010

In this study, the reliability of thermal shock, thermal cycle, and complex vibration test at high temperature were examined for 3 types of lead-free solder alloys, Sn-3.5Ag, Sn-0.7Cu and Sn-5.0Sb. For the reliability test, daisychained BGA chips with ENIG-finished Cu pad was assembled with the three lead-free solders on OSP-finished PCBs. Among the 3 types solder alloys, Sn-3.5Ag solder alloy showed the highest degradation rate of electrical resistance and joint strength. On the other hand, Sn-0.7Cu solder alloy had high stability after the reliability tests.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
• /
• v.24 no.6
• /
• pp.21-27
• /
• 2006

This study was focused on the evaluation of the thermo-mechanical board-level reliability of Pb-bearing and Pb-free surface mount assemblies. The composition of Pb-bearing solder was a typical Sn-37Pb and that of Pb-free solder used in this study was a representative Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu in mass %. Thermal shock test was chosen for the reliability evaluation of the solder joints. Typical $Cu_6Sn_5$ intermetallic compound (IMC) layer was formed between both solders and Cu lead frame at the as-reflowed state, while a layer of $Cu_3Sn$ was additionally formed between the $Cu_6Sn_5$ and Cu lead frame during the thermal shock testing. Thickness of the IMC layers increased with increasing thermal shock cycles, and this is very similar result with that of isothermal aging study of solder joints. Shear test of the multi layer ceramic capacitor(MLCC) joints was also performed to investigate the degradation of mechanical bonding strength of solder joints during the thermal shock testing. Failure mode of the joints after shear testing revealed that the degradation was mainly due to the excessive growth of the IMC layers during the thermal shock testing.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
• /
• v.18 no.5
• /
• pp.449-454
• /
• 2009

This paper presents an experimental study on the failure characteristics of SnAgCu lead-free solder balls. To estimate the effect of Ag, three types of SnAgCu balls are first prepared by varying the weight percent of Ag(1.0, 3.0, 4.0 wt%) and then analyzed by reliability tests such as thermal shock, high speed ball shear, and drop tests. Thermal shock test reveals that the higher the weight percent of Ag is, the longer the fatigue lift becomes. To the contrary, high speed ball-shear test and drop test show that the shear strength and the fracture toughness of solder balls are inversely proportional to the weight percent of Ag, respectively, Reasons for these observations will be further investigated In the future work.