• 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.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.481-486
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• 2002

We have investigated the effects of plating materials for Cu lead (Sn-lOPb, AwPdJNi, Sn-3.5Ag, Sn-3Bi and Sn-0.7Cu) on properties of QFP joints using a Sn-8Zn-3Bi solder. The results were compared with the joints using Sn-3. 5Ag-0. 7Cu and Sn-37Pb solders. As a result, the joints with the Sn-3.5Ag, Sn-3Bi and Sn-0.7Cu plated Cu lead had the reliability comparable to those of the Sn-3.5Ag-0.7Cu and Sn-37Pb soldered joints with respect to the joint strength after the high temperature holding tests at 348K to 423k. In particular, the joint with the Sn-3.5Ag plated Cu lead had the best reliability. This is caused by the low growth rate of a Cu-Sn interfacial reaction layer that degrades the joint strength of the soldered joints. Consequently, the Sn-3.5Ag plating was found to be most feasible plating for the Sn-8Zn-3Bi soldered joint.

• 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.14 no.4
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• pp.71-77
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• 2007

In this study, the mechanical and electrical properties of three different ball grid array (BGA) solder joints, consisting of Sn-37Pb, Sn-3.5Ag and Sn-3.5Ag-0.75Cu (all wt.%), with organic solderability preservative (OSP)-finished Cu pads were investigated as a function of reflow number. Based on scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis results, a continuous $Cu_6Sn5$, intermetallic compound (IMC) layer was formed at the solder/substrate interface, which grew with increasing reflow number. The ball shear testing results showed that the shear force peaked after 3 reflows (in case of Sn-Ag solder, 4 reflows), and then decreased with increasing reflow number. The electrical property of the joint gradually decreased with increasing reflow number.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Machine Tool Engineers
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.151-156
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• 2007

In this paper, the creep characteristics of lead and lead-free solder joint were investigated using the QFP(Quad Flat Package) creep test. Two kind of solder pastes(Sn-3Ag-0.5Cu, Sn-0.2Sb-0.4Ag-37.4Pb) were applied to the QFP solder joints and each specimen was checked the external and internal failures(i.e., wetting failure, void, pin hole, poor-heel fillet) by digital microscope and X-ray inspection. The creep test was conducted at the temperatures of $100^{\circ}C$ and $130^{\circ}C$ under the load of 15$\sim$20% of average pull strength in solder joints. The creep characteristics of each solder joints were compared using the creep strain-time curve and creep strain rate-stress curves. Through the comparison, the Sn-3Ag-0.5Cu solder joints have higher creep resistance than that of Sn-0.3Sb-0.4Ag-37.4Pb. Also, the grain boundary sliding in the fracture surface and the necking of solder joint were observed by FE-SEM.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.91-96
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• 2002

Three different kinds of substrate used in this study : bare Cu, electroless Ni/Cu substrate with a Nilayer thickness of $5\mu\textrm{m}$, immersion Au/electroless Ni/Cu substrate with the Au and Ni layer of $0.15\mu\textrm{m}$ and $5\mu\textrm{m}$ thickness, respectively. The wettability and interfacial tension between various substrate and Sn-3.5Ag solder were examined as a function of soldering temperature, types of flux. The wettability of Sn-3.5Ag solder increased with soldering temperature and solid content of flux. The wettability of Sn-3.5Ag solder was affected by the substrate metal finish used, i.e., nickel, gold and copper. Intermetallic compound formation between liquid solder and substrate reduced the interfacial energy and decreased wettability.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.9 no.9
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• pp.926-931
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• 1999

The microstructure, wettability, shear strength and aging effect of Sn-3.5Ag/Cu and Alloy42 lead-frame solder joints were measured for comparison. In the case of Sn-3.5Ag/Cu, $Ag_3Sn and Cu_6Sn_5$ phases in the matrix Sn and $1~2\mu\textrm{m}$ thick $Cu_6Sn_5$ phase at the interface of solder/lead-frame were formed. In the case of Sn-3.5Agl Alloy42, only AgJSn phase of low density in the matrix Sn and $0.5~1.5\mu\textrm{m}$ thick $FeSn_2$, phase at the interface of solder/leadframe were formed. Comparing to Cu, Alloy42 showed wider area of spread and smaller contact angle, thus better wet­tability. But shear strength and ductility of Alloy 42 solder joints were only 33% and 75% of those of Cu, respectively After aging at $180^{\circ}C$ for 1 week, $\xi-Cu_3Sn$ layer on $\eta-Cu_6Sn_5$ layer was formed on Cu lead-frame, while coarsened cir­cular $Ag_3Sn$ phase in the matrix and thickened $FeSn_2$, at the interface were formed on Alloy42 lead- frame.

• Electronic Materials Letters
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.678-688
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• 2018

The repeated-bending properties of Sn-0.7Cu, Sn-0.3Ag-0.7Cu (SAC0307), and Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu (SAC305) solders mounted on flexible substrates were studied using highly accelerated stress testing (HAST), followed by repeated-bending testing. In the Sn-0.7Cu joints, the $Cu_6Sn_5$ intermetallic compound (IMC) coarsened as the HAST time increased. For the SAC0307 and SAC305 joints, the $Ag_3Sn$ and $Cu_6Sn_5$ IMCs coarsened mainly along the grain boundary as the HAST time increased. The Sn-0.7Cu solder had a high contact angle, compared to the SAC0307 and SAC305 solders; consequently, the SAC0307 and SAC305 solder joints displayed smoother fillet shapes than the Sn-0.7Cu solder joint. The repeated-bending for the Sn-0.7Cu solder produced the crack initiated from the interface between the Cu lead wire and the solder, and that for the SAC solders indicated the cracks initiated at the surface, but away from the interface between the Cu lead wire and the solder. Furthermore, the oxide layer was thickest for Sn-0.7Cu and thinnest for SAC305, regardless of the HAST time. For the SAC solders, the crack initiation rate increased as the oxide layer thickened and roughened. $Cu_6Sn_5$ precipitated and grew along the grain and subgrain boundaries as the HAST time increased, embrittling the grain boundary at the crack propagation site.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.47 no.8
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• pp.500-507
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• 2009

Pb-free solder has recently been used in electronics in efforts to meet environmental regulations, and a number of Pb-free solder alloy choices beyond the near-eutectic SnAgCu solder are now available. With increased demand for thin and portable electronics, the high cost of alloys containing significant amounts of silver and their poor mechanical shock performance have spurred the development of low Ag SnAgCu solder, which provides improved mechanical performance at a reasonable cost. Although low Ag SnAgCu solder exhibits significantly higher fracture resistance under high-strain rates, little thermal fatigue data exist for this solder. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate thermal fatigue reliability of low Ag SnAgCu solder under variation of thermal stress in order to allow its implementation in electronic products with high reliability requirements. In this study, the reliability of Sn0.3Ag0.7Cu(SAC0307), a low Ag solder alloy, is discussed and compared with that of Sn3Ag0.5Cu(SAC305). Three sample types and six samples size are evaluated. Mechanical properties and microstructure of the solder joint are investigated under thermal shock cycles. It was observed that the mechanical strength of SAC0307 dropped slightly with thermal cycling relative to that of SAC305. This reveals that the failure mode of SAC0307 is different from that SAC305 under this critical condition.