• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.450-455
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• 2002

Cu-cored Sn-Ag solder balls were fabricated by coating pure Sn and Ag on Cu balls. The melting behavior and the solderability of the BGA joint with the Ni/Au coated Cu pad were investigated and were compared with those of the commercial Sn-Ag and Sn-Ag-Cu balls. DSC analyses clarified the melting of Cu-cored solders to start at a rather low temperature, the eutectic temperature of Sn-Ag-Cu. It was ascribed to the diffusion of Cu and Ag into Sn plating during the heating process. After reflow soldering the microstructures of the solder and of the interfacial layer between the solder and the Cu pad were analyzed with SEM and EPMA. By EDX analysis, formation of a eutectic microstructure composing of $\beta$-Sn, Ag$_3$Sn, ad Cu$_{6}$Sn$_{5}$ phases was confirmed in the solder, and the η'-(Au, Co, Cu, Ni)$_{6}$Sn$_{5}$ reaction layer was found to form at the interface between the solder and the Cu pad. By conducting shear tests, it was found that the BGA joint using Cu-cored solder ball could prevent the degradation of joint strength during aging at 423K because of the slower growth me of η'-(Au, Co, Cu, Ni)$_{6}$Sn$_{5}$ reaction layer formed at the solder, pad interface. Furthermore, Cu-cored multi-component Sn-Ag-Bi balls were fabricated by sequentially coating the binary Sn-Ag and Sn-Bi solders on Cu balls. The reflow property of these solder balls was investigated. Melting of these solder balls was clarified to start at the almost same temperature as that of Sn-2Ag-0.75Cu-3Bi solder. A microstructure composing of (Sn), Ag$_3$Sn, Bi and Cu$_{6}$Sn$_{5}$ phases was found to form in the solder ball, and a reaction layer containing primarily η'-(Au, Co, Cu, Ni)$_{6}$Sn$_{5}$ was found at the interface with Ni/Au coated Cu pad after reflow soldering. By conducting shear test, it was found that the BGA joints using this Cu-core solder balls hardly degraded their joint shear strength during aging at 423K due to the slower growth rate of the η'-(Au, Cu, Ni)$_{6}$Sn$_{5}$ reaction layer at the solder/pad interface.he solder/pad interface.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.53-57
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• 2013

Although the lowering of Ag content in Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu is known to improve the mechanical shock reliability of the solder joint, it is also known to be detrimental to the solderbility. In this study, the quaternary alloying effect of In and the minor alloying effects of Mn and Pd on the solderability, thermal cycling and mechanical shock reliabilities of the low Ag content Sn-1.2Ag-0.7Cu solder were investigated using board-level BGA packages. The solderability of Sn-1.2Ag-0.7Cu-0.4In was proved to be comparable to that of Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu but its thermal cycling reliability was inferior to that of Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu. While the 0.03 wt% Pd addition to the Sn-1.2Ag-0.7Cu-0.4In decreased the solderability and reliabilities of solder joint, the 0.1 wt% Mn addition was proved to be beneficial especially for the mechanical shock reliability compared to those of Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu and Sn-1.0Ag-0.5Cu compositions. It was considered to be due that the Mn addition decreased the Young's modulus of low Ag content Pb-free solders.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 1998.05a
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• pp.157-158
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• 1998

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2004

The requirements for harsh environment electronic controllers in automotive applications have been steadily becoming more and more stringent. Electronic substrate technologists have been responding to this challenge effectively in an effort to meet the performance, reliability and cost requirements. An effect of the plasma cleaning at the ECM(Engine Control Module) alumina substrate and the intermetallic compound layer between Sn-37wt%Pb solder and pad joints after reflow soldering has been studied. Organic residual carbon layer was removed by the substrate plasma cleaning. So the interfacial adhesive strength was enhanced. As a result of AFM measurement, conductor pad roughness were increased from 304 nm to 330 nm. $Cu_6/Sn_5$ formed during initial reflow process at the interface between TiWN/Cu pad and solder grew by the succeeding reflow process, so the grains became coarse. A cellular-shaped $Ag_3Sn$ was observed at the interface between Ag-Pd conductor pad and solder. The diameters of the $Ag_3Sn$ grains ranged from about 0.1∼0.6 $\mu\textrm{m}$. And a needle-shaped was also observed at the inside of the solder.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.467-471
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• 2015

Thus far, solders used in electronics remain lead-based. Pb-free solutions in electronic components and systems are receiving increased attention in the semiconductor and electronics industries. Pb-free materials currently in used are Sn-37Pb, Sn-4Ag and Sn-4Ag-0.5Cu/Ni plate joints. In this study, solder alloys were used at high temperatures for artificial aging processing that was performed at $150^{\circ}C$ for 0hr, 100hr, 200hr, 400hr, 600hr and 1000hr. The SP test was conducted at $30^{\circ}C$ and $50^{\circ}C$. As a result, the maximum shear strength of all the specimens decreased with the increase in artificial aging time and temperature of the SP test. In addition, Pb-free solders showed higher total fracture energy compared with Sn-37Pb at high temperatures. The mechanical properties of Sn-4Ag-0.5Cu solder/Ni plate joints remained in excellent conditions in electronic parking systems at high temperatures.

• Proceedings of the International Microelectronics And Packaging Society Conference
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• 2003.09a
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• pp.147-163
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• 2003

European Union bans the usage of Pb in electronics from July 1 st, 2006. The Near-eutectic Sn-Ag-Cu alloys are the leading candidate Pb-free solders (for SMT card assembly). .The microstructure of Sn-Ag-Cu alloys is discussed in terms of solidification, composition and cooling rate. Methods of controlling Ag3Sn plates are discussed. .Thermo-mechanical fatigue behaviors of Sn-Ag-Cu solder joints are reviewed. Tin pest, whisker growth, electromigration of Pb-free solders are discussed.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.57-63
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• 2007

Electrochemical migration characteristics of Pb-free solder alloys are quantitatively correlated with corrosion characteristics in harsh environment conditions. In-situ water drop test and corrosion resistance test for Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu solder alloys were carried out in NaBr and NaF solutions to obtain the electrochemical migration lifetime and pitting potential, respectively. Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu solder alloy shows similar ionization and electrochemical migration behavior with pure Sn because of Ag and Cu do not migrate due to the formation of resistant intermetallic compounds inside solder itself. Electrochemical migration lifetime in NaBr is longer than in NaF, which seems to be closely related to higher pitting potential in NaBr than NaF solution. Therefore, it was revealed that electrochemical migration lifetime of Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu solder alloys showed good correlation to the corrosion resistance, and also the initial ionization step at anode side is believed to be the rate-determining step during electrochemical migration of Pb-free solders in these environments.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.575-579
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• 2004

Package reliability test was conducted to investigate the effect of solder paste composition at BGA Package. It was found that the shape and size of the phase form are affected by the processing parameters. The material have used to fill in the via was Sn/36Pb/2Ag and Sn/0.75Cu type solder paste. Sn/36Pb/2Ag and Sn/0.75Cu paste were fabricated on Tape-BGA substrates by screen printing process, and via ball mount data were characterized with variations of dwell time of 85 seconds at reflow peak temperature at 22$0^{\circ}C$ or 24$0^{\circ}C$. The test condition was MRT 30 $^{\circ}C$/60 %RH/96 HR. Failures formed of a ball-off in solder paste process were observed by using a Optical Microscope and SEM(Scanning Electron Microscope). It was concluded that intermetallic layer growth played important roles in increasing solder fatigue strength for addition of Ag composition. The degradation of shear strength of solder composition is discussed.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.37-42
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• 2001

The concerns of the toxicity and health hazard of lead in solders have demanded the research to find suitable lead-free solder alloys. It was discussed that effect of the intermetallic formation and structure on the reliability of solder joints. In this study, lead-free solder alloys with compositions of Sn/3.5Ag/0.75Cu, Sn/2.0Ag/0.5Cu/2.0Bi were applied to the 48 $\mu$BGA packages. Also, the lead-free solder alloys compared with eutectic Sn/37Pb solder using shear test under various aging temperature. Common $\mu$BGA with solder components was aged at $130^{\circ}C$, $150^{\circ}C$ and $170^{\circ}C$. And the each temperature applied to 300, 600 and 900 hours. The thickness of the intermetallics was measured for each condition and the activation energy for their growth was computed. The fracture surfaces were analyzed using SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) with EDS (Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy). These results for reliability of lead-free interconnections are discussed.

• 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.