• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.99-106
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• 2011

Joint strength between a solder ball and a pad on a substrate is one of the major factors which have effects on electronic device reliability. The effort to improve solder joint strength via surface cleaning, heat treatment and solder composition change have been in progress. This paper will discuss the method of solder ball joint strength improvement using LF hydrogen radical cleaning treatment and focus on the effects of surface treatment condition on the solder ball shear strength and interfacial reactions. In the joint without radical cleaning, voids were observed at the interface. However, the specimens cleaned by hydrogen-radical didn't have voids at the interface regardless of cleaning time. The shear strength between the solder ball and the pad was increased over 120%(about 800gf) when compared to that without the radical treatment (680gf) under the same reflow condition. Especially, at the specimen treated for 5minutes, ball shear strength was considerably increased over 150%(1150gf). Through the observation of fracture surface and cross-section microstructure, the increase of joint strength resulted from the change of fracture mode, that is, from the solder ball fracture to IMC/Ni(P) interfacial fracture. The other cases like radical treated specimen for 1, 3, 7, 9min. showed IMC/solder interfacial fracture rather than fracture in the solder ball.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.48 no.11
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• pp.1035-1040
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• 2010

The research efforts on GaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) keep increasing due to their significant impact on the illumination industry. Surface mount technology (SMT) is widely used to mount the LED packages for practical application. In surface mount soldering both the device body and leads are intentionally heated by a reflow process. We studied on the effects of multiple reflows on microstructural variation and joint strength of the solder joints between the LED package and the substrate. In this study, Pb-free Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu solder and a finished pad with organic solderability preservatives (OSP) were employed. A $Cu_6Sn_5$ intermetallic compound (IMC) layer was formed during the multiple reflows, and the thickness of the IMC layerincreased with an increasing number of reflows. The shear force decreased after three reflows. From the observation of the fracture surface after a shear test, partially brittle fractures were observed after five reflows.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.71-77
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• 2012

We studied the effect of heat treatment on the microstructures and mechanical strength of the solder joints in the Light Emitting Diode (LED) packages. The commercial LED packages were mounted on the a flame resistance-4 (FR4) Printed Circuit Board (PCB) in the reflow process, and then the joints were aged at $125^{\circ}C$ for 100, 200, 300, 500 and 1000 hours, respectively. After the heat treatment, we measured the shear strength of the solder joints between the PCB and the LED packages to evaluate their mechanical property. We used Pb-free Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu solder to bond between the LED packages and the PCBs using two different surface finishes, Electroless Nickel-Immersion Gold (ENIG) and Electroless Nickel-Electroless Palladium-Immersion Gold (ENEPIG). The microstructure of the solder joints was observed by a scanning electron microscope (SEM). (Cu,Ni)6Sn5 intermetallic compounds (IMCs) formed between the solder and the PCB, and the thickness of the IMCs was increased with increasing aging time. The shear strength for the ENIG finished LED package increased until aging for 300 h and then decreased with increasing aging time. On the other hand, in the case of an ENEPIG finished LED package, the shear strength decreased after aging for 500 h.

• 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.