• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.12 no.1 s.34
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• pp.41-46
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• 2005

A systematic investigation of shear testing was conducted to find a relationship between Ni-Sn intermetallic spatting and the brittle fracture observed in electroless Ni(P)/solder interconnection. Brittle fracture was found in the solder joints made of Sn-3.5Ag, while only ductile fracture was observed in a Cu-containing solder (Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu). For Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu joints, $(Ni,Cu)_3Sn_4$ and/or $(Cu,Ni)_6Sn_5$ compound were formed at the interface without spatting from the Ni(P) film. For Sn-3.5Ag, $Ni_3Sn_4$ compound was formed and brittle fracture occurred in solder pads where $Ni_3Sn_4$ had spalled. From the analysis of fractured surfaces, it was found that the brittle fracture occurs through the $Ni_3SnP$ layer formed between $Ni_3Sn_4$ intermetallic layer and the Ni(P) film. Since the $Ni_3SnP$ layer is getting thicker during/ after $Ni_3Sn_4$ spatting, suppression of $Ni_3Sn_4$ spatting is crucial to ensure the reliability of Ni(P)/solder system.

• 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.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.193-201
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• 2011

Recently, mechanical reliabilities including a drop test have been a hot issue. In this paper, solder balls with new components which are Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu and Sn-1.0Ag-0.5Cu-0.05N are introduced, and board level drop test for them are conducted under JEDEC standard in which the board with 15 flip chips is dropped as 1,500g acceleration during 0.5ms. The drop simulations are studied by using a implicit method in the ANSYS LS-DYNA, and modal analysis is made. Through both analyses, the solder balls with new components are evaluated under the drop. It is found that the maximum stress of each chip is occurred between the solder ball and the PCB, and the highest value among the maximum stresses in the chips is occurred on the chip nearest to fixed holes on the board in the drop tests and simulations.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.402-407
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• 2007

In electronics manufacturing processes, soldering process has generally been used in surface mounting technology. Because of environmental restriction, lead free solders as like a SnAgCu ternary system are being used widely. After soldering process, the formation and growth of intermetalic compounds(IMCs) are formed in the interface between solder and Cu substrate as follows isothermal temperature and time. In this studies, therefore, we investigated the effects of the Cu substrate thickness on the IMC formation and growth of Sn-40Pb/Cu and Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu/Cu solder joints, respectively. The effect of the Cu thickness in PCB Cu pad and pure Cu plate was analyzed as measuring of thickness of each IMC. After solder was soldered on PCB and Cu plate which have different Cu thickness, we measured the IMC thickness in solder joints respectively. Also we compared with the effectiveness of Cu thickness on the IMC growth. From these results, we calculated the activation energy.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.19-27
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• 2003

Surface finishes of PCB laminates are important in the solder joint reliability of flip chip package because the types and thicknesses of intermetallic compound(IMC), and compositions and hardness of solders are affected by them. In this study, effects of surface finishes of PCB on the low cycle fatigue resistance of Sn-based lead-free solders; Sn-3.5Ag, Sn-3.5Ag-XCu(X=0.75, 1.5), Sn-3.5Ag-XBi(X=2.5, 7.5) and Sn-0.7Cu were investigated for the Cu and Au/Ni surface finish treatments. Displacement controlled room temperature lap shear fatigue tests showed that fatigue resistance of Sn-3.5Ag-XCu(X=0.75, 1.5), Sn-3.5Ag and Sn-0.7Cu alloys were more or less the same each other but much better than that of Bi containing alloys regardless of the surface finish layer used. In general, solder joints on the Au/Ni finish showed better fatigue resistance than those on the Cu finish. Cross-sectional fractography revealed microcracks nucleation inside of the interfacial IMC near the solder mask edge, more frequently on the Cu than the Au/Ni surface finish. Macro cracks followed the solder/IMC interface in the Bi containing alloys, while they propagated in the solder matrix in other alloys. It was ascribed to the Bi segregation at the solder/IMC interface and the solid solution hardening effect of Bi in the $\beta-Sn$ matrix.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.505-509
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• 2002

Pb is considered to be eliminated from solder, due to its toxicity. However, melting temperatures of most Pb-free solders are known higher than that of Sn37Pb. Therefore, there is a difficulty to apply Pb-free solders to electronic industry. Since Sn3Ag8Bi5In has relatively lower melting range as $188~200^{\circ}C$, on this study. Wettability and soldering characteristics of Sn3Ag8Bi5In solder in BGA were investigated to solve for what kind of problem. Zero cross time, wetting time, and equilibrium force of Sn3Ag8Bi5In solder for Cu and plated Cu such as Sn, Ni, and Au/Ni-plated on Cu were estimated. Plated Sn on Cu showed best wettability for zero cross time, wetting time and equilibrium farce. Shear strength of the reflowed joint with Sn3Ag8Bi5In ball in BGA was investigated. Diameter of the ball was 0.5mm, UBM(under bump metallurgy) was $Au(0.5\mu\textrm{m})Ni(5\mu\textrm{m})/Cu(18\mu\textrm{m})$ and flux was RMA type. For the reflow soldering, the peak reflow temperature was changed in the range of $220~250^{\circ}C$, and conveyor speed was 0.6m/min.. The shear strength of Sn3Ag8Bi5In ball showed similar level as those of Sn37Pb. The soldered balls are aged at $110^{\circ}C$ for 36days and their shear strengths were evaluated. The shear strength of Sn3Ag8Bi5In ball was increased from 480gf to 580gf by aging for 5 days.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.202-208
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• 2009

The effects of aging time on the microstructure and shear strength of the Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic (LTCC)/Ag pad/Electroless Nickel Immersion Gold (ENIG)/BGA solder joints were investigated through isothermal aging at $150^{\circ}C$ for 1000 h with conventional Sn-37Pb and Sn-3Ag-0.5Cu. $Ni_3Sn_4$ intermetallic compound (IMC) layers was formed at the interface between Sn-37Pb solder and LTCC substrate as-reflowed state, while $(Ni,Cu)_3Sn_4$ IMC layer was formed between Sn-3Ag-0.5Cu solder and LTCC substrate. Additional $(Cu,Ni)_6Sn_5$ layer was found at the interface between the $(Ni,Cu)_3Sn_4$ layer and Sn-3Ag-0.5Cu solder after aging at $150^{\circ}C$ for 500 h. Thickness of the IMC layers increased and coarsened with increasing aging time. Shear strength of both solder joints increased with increasing aging time. Failure mode of BGA solder joints with LTCC substrate after shear testing revealed that shear strength of the joints depended on the adhesion between Ag metallization and LTCC. Fracture mechanism of Sn-37Pb solder joint was a mixture of ductile and pad lift, while that of Sn-3Ag-0.5Cu solder joint was a mixture of ductile and brittle $(Ni,Cu)_3Sn_4$ IMC fracture morphology. Failure mechanisms of LTCC/Ag pad/ENIG/BGA solder joints were also interpreted by finite element analyses.

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

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 1999.11a
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• pp.110-110
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• 1999

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.92-98
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• 2003

This paper describes the numerical prediction of the thermal fatigue life of a $\mu$BGA(Micro Ball Grid Array) solder joint. Finite element analysis(FEA) was employed to simulate thermal cycling loading for solder joint reliability. Strain values, along with the result of mechanical fatigue tests for solder alloys were then used to predict the solder joint fatigue life using the Coffin-Manson equation. The results show that Sn-3.5mass%Ag solder had the longest thermal fatigue life in low cycle fatigue. Also a practical correlation for the prediction of the thermal fatigue life was suggested by using the dimensionless variable ${\gamma}$, which was possible to use several lead free solder alloys for prediction of thermal fatigue life. Furthermore, when the contact angle of the ball and chip has 50 degrees, solder joint has longest fatigue life.