• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.89-96
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• 2002

This study examined the effects of adding Zn to Sn-3.5Ag solder on the microstructure changes and behavior of interface reaction of the solder joint with Cu substrate. The solder/Cu joints were examined with microscope to observe the characteristics of microstructure changes and interfacial reaction layer with aging treatment for up to 120 days at $150^{\circ}C$. Results of the microstructure changes showed that the microstructures were coarsened with aging treatment, while adding 1%Zn suppresses coarsening microstructures. The Sn-3.5Ag/Cu had a fast growth rate of the reaction layer in comparison with the Sn-3.5Ag-1Zn at the aging temperature of $150^{\circ}C$. Through the SEM/EDS analysis of solder joint, it was proved that intermetallic layer was $Cu_6Sn_5$ phase and aged specimens showed that intermetallic layer grew in proportion to $t^{1/2}$, and the precipitate of $Ag_3Sn$ occur to both inner layer and interface of layer and solder. In case of Zn-containing composite solder, $Cu_6Sn_5$ phase formed at the side of substrate and Cu-Zn-Sn phase formed at the other side in double layer. It seems that Cu-Zn-Sn phase formed at solder side did a roll of banrier to suppress the growth of the $Cu_6Sn_5$ layer during the aging treatment.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.91-97
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• 2014

With Pb-free solder joints containing Sn-Ag-Cu-based ternary alloys (Sn-1.0 wt.%Ag-0.5Cu and Sn-4.0Ag-0.5Cu) and Sn-Ag-Cu-In-based quaternary alloys (Sn-1.0Ag-0.5Cu-1.0In, Sn-1.2Ag-0.5Cu-0.4In, Sn-1.2Ag-0.5Cu-0.6In, and Sn-1.2Ag-0.7Cu-0.4In), fracture-mode change, shear strengths, and fracture energies were observed and measured under a high-speed shear test of 500 mm/s. The samples in each composition were prepared with as-reflowed ones or solid-aged ones at $125^{\circ}C$ to 500 h. As a result, it was observed that ductile or quasi-ductile fracture modes occurs in the most of Sn-Ag-Cu-In samples. The happening frequency of a quasi-ductile fracture mode showed that the Sn-Ag-Cu-In joints possessed ductile fracture properties more than that of Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu in the high-speed shear condition. Moreover, the Sn-Ag-Cu-In joints presented averagely fracture energies similar to those of Sn-Ag-Cu joints. While maximum values in the fracture energies were measured after the solid aging for 100 h, clear decreases in the fracture energies were observed after the solid aging for 500 h. This result indicated that reliability degradation of the Sn-Ag-Cu-In solder joints might accelerate from about that time.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.11 no.4 s.33
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• pp.43-48
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• 2004

Electromigration of Sn-3.5Ag-0.5Cu solder bumps was investigated with current densities of $3{\~}4{\times}10^4 A/cm^2$ at temperatures of $130{\~}160^{\circ}C$ using flip chip specimens which consisted of upper Si chip and lower Si substrate. Electromigration failure of the Sn-3.5Ag-0.5Cu solder bump occurred with complete consumption of Cu UBM and void formation at cathode side of the solder bump. The activation energies for electromigration of the Sn-3.5Ag-0.5Cu solder bump were measured as 0.61 eV at current density of $3{\times}10^4 A/cm^2$, 0.63 eV at $3.5{\times}10^4 A/cm^2$, and 0.77 eV at $4{\times}10^4 A/cm^2$, respectively.

• 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.12 no.2 s.35
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• pp.121-128
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• 2005

Solder joints in microelectronic devices are frequently operated at an elevated temperature in service. They also experience plastic deformation caused by temperature excursion and difference in thermal expansion coefficients. Deformed solders can go through a recovery and recrystallization process at an elevated temperature, which would alter their microstructure and mechanical properties. In this study, to predict the changes in mechanical properties of Pb-free solder joints at high temperatures, the high temperature microhardness of several Pb-free and composite solders was measured as a function of temperature, deformation, and annealing condition. Solder alleys investigated include pure Sn, Sn-0.7Cu, Sn-3.5Ag, Sn-3.8Ag-0.7Cu, Sn-2.8Ag-7.0Cu (composite), and Sn-2.7Ag-4.9Cu-2.9Ni (composite). Numbers are all in wt.$\%$ unless specified otherwise. Solder pellets were cast at two cooling rates (0.4 and $7^{\circ}C$/s). The pellets were compressively deformed by $30\%$ and $50\%$ and annealed at $150^{\circ}C$ for 2 days. The microhardness was measured as a function of indentation temperature from 25 to $130^{\circ}C$. Their microstructure was also evaluated to correlate with the changes in microhardness.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.50-55
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• 2007

The smaller size and higher integration of advanced electronic package systems result in severe electrochemical reliability issues in microelectronic packaging due to higher electric field under high temperature and humidity conditions. Under these harsh conditions, electronic components respond to applied voltages by electrochemical ionization of metal and the formation of a filament, which leads to short-circuit failure of an electronic component, which is termed electrochemical migration. This work aims to evaluate electrochemical migration susceptibility of the pure Sn, Sn-3.5Ag, Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu solder alloys in $Na_{2}SO_{4}$. The water drop test was performed to understand the failure mechanism in a pad patterned solder alloy. The polarization test and anodic dissolution test were performed, and ionic species and concentration were analyzed. Ag and Cu additions increased the time to failure of Pb-free solder in 0.001 wt% $Na_{2}SO_{4}$ solution at room temperature and the dendrite was mainly composed of Sn regardless of the solders. In the case of SnAg solders, when Ag and Cu added to the solders, Ag and Cu improved the passivation behavior and pitting corrosion resistance and formed inert intermetallic compounds and thus the dissolution of Ag and Cu was suppressed; only Sn was dissolved. If ionic species is mainly Sn ion, dissolution content than cathodic deposition efficiency will affect the composition of the dendrite. Therefore, Ag and Cu additions improve the electrochemical migration resistance of SnAg and SnAgCu solders.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.25-31
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• 2010

In this study, we investigated the morphology and thermal stability of interfacial phases in joint between lead free solder(Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu) and electroless Ni-W-P under bump metallizations(UBM) with different tungsten contents as a function of thermal aging. Content of phosphorus of each deposits was fixed at 8 wt.%, and content of tungsten was variated each 0, 3, 6 and 9 wt.%. Specimens were prepared by reflowing at $255^{\circ}C$, aging range was $200^{\circ}C$ and up to 2 weeks. After reflow process, in the electroless Ni(W)-P/solder joint, the interfacial intermetallic compound(IMC) was showed both $(Cu,Ni)_6Sn_5$ and $(Ni,Cu)_3Sn_4$. UBM and generated IMC at the interface of lead free solder was proportionally increased with aging time. The thickness of IMC was increased because the generation rate of $Ni(W)_3P$ decreased with increasing contents of W.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.12 no.1 s.34
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• pp.47-52
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• 2005

Worldwide movement for prohibition of Pb usage drives imminent implementation of Pb-free solders in microelectronic packaging industry. Reliability information of Pb-free solders has not been completely constructed yet. One of the potential reliability concerns of Pb-free solders is allotropic transformation of Sn known as tin pest. Volume increase during the formation of tin pest could deteriorate the reliability of solder joints. It was also reported that the addition of soluble elements (i.e. Pb, Bi, and Sb) into Sn can effectively suppress the tin pest. However, the mechanical properties of the tin pest resistant alloys have not been studied in detail. In this study, lap shear creep test was conducted with Sn and Sn-0.7Cu based solder alloys doped with minor amount of Bi or Sb. Shear strain rates of the alloy were generally higher than those of Sn-3.5Ag based alloys. Rupture strains and corresponding Monkman- Grant products were largest for Sn-0.5Bi alloy and smallest for Sn-0.7Cu-0.5Sb alloy. Rupture surface Sn-0.5Bi alloy showed highly elongated $\beta$-Sn globules necked to rupture by shear stresses, while elongation of $\beta$-Sn globules of Sn-0.7Cu-0.5Sb alloy was relatively smaller.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.41-47
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• 2010

The effect of PCB and BGA pad designs was investigated on the mechanical property of Pb-free solder joints. The mechanical property of solder joint was tested by three different test methods of drop impact tests, bending impact test, and high speed shear test. Two kinds of pad design such as NSMD (Non-Solder Mask Defined) and SMD (Solder Mask Defined) were applied with the OSP finished Pb-free solder (Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu, Sn-1.2Ag-0.5Cu). in the drop impact test and bending impact test, the characterized lifetime showed the same tendency, and SMD design showed better mechanical property of solder joint than NSMD regardless of test method, which was due to the different crack path. The fracture crack on SMD pad was propagated along the intermetallic compound (IMC) layer of solder joint, while the fracture crack on NSMD pad propagated through upper edge of land which shields pattern. In the high speed shear test, pad lift occurred on the solder joint of NSMD. SMD/SMD combination of pad design consequently illustrated the best mechanical property of BGA/PCB solder joint, followed by SMD/NSMD, NSMD/SMD, and NSMD/NSMD.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.310-314
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• 2008

Electromigration test of flip chip solder bump is performed at $140^{\circ}C$ C and $4.6{\times}10^4A/cm^2$ conditions in order to compare electromigration with thermomigration behaviors by using electroplated Sn-3.5Ag solder bump with Cu under-bump-metallurgy. As a result of measuring resistance with stressing time, failure mechanism of solder bump was evaluated to have four steps by the fail time. Discrete steps of resistance change during electromigration test are directly compared with microstructural evolution of cross-sectioned solder bump at each step. Thermal gradient in solder bump is very high and the contribution of thermomigration to atomic flux is comparable with pure electromigration effect.