• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.64-69
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• 2012

Sn-Bi eutectic alloy has been widely used as one of the key solder materials for step soldering at low temperature. The Sn-58Bi solder paste containing chloride flux was adopted to compare with that using the chloride-free flux. The paste was applied on the electroless nickel-immersion gold (ENIG) surface finish by stencil printing, and the reflow process was then performed at $170^{\circ}C$ for 10 min. After reflow, the solder joints were aged at $125^{\circ}C$ for 100, 200, 300, 500 and 1000 h in an oven. The interfacial microstructures were obtained by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the composition of intermetallic compounds (IMCs) was analyzed using energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS). Two different IMC layers, consisting of $Ni_3Sn_4$ and relatively very thin Sn-Bi-Ni-Au were formed at the solder/surface finish interface, and their thickness increased with increasing aging time. The wettability of solder joints was investigated by wetting balance test. The mechanical property of each aging solder joint was evaluated by the ball shear test in accordance with JEDEC standard (JESD22-B117A). The results show that the highest shear force was measured when the aging time was 100 h, and the fracture mode changed from ductile fracture to brittle fracture with increasing aging time. On the other hand, the chloride flux in the solder paste did not affect the shear force and fracture mode of the solder joints.