• Journal of Welding and Joining
• /
• v.29 no.1
• /
• pp.41-45
• /
• 2011

SnAgCu lead-free solder alloy is considered as the best alternative to eutectic tin-lead solder. However, the detailed material properties of SnAgCu solder are not available in public. Hence, this paper presents an estimation of mechanical properties of SnAgCu lead-free solder. In particular, the weight percent of Ag was varied as 1.0wt%, 2.5wt%, 3.0wt%, and 4.5wt% in order to estimate the effect of Ag in the Sn-xAg-0.5Cu ternary alloy system. For this purpose, four types of SnAgCu bars were first molded by casting and then standard specimens were cut out of molded bars. Micro-Vickers hardness, tensile tests were finally performed to estimate the variations in mechanical properties according to the weight percent of Ag. Test results reveal that the higher the weight percent of Ag is, the higher the hardness, yield strength, and ultimate tensile strength become. More material properties will be further investigated in the future work.

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

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

• Journal of Welding and Joining
• /
• v.26 no.5
• /
• pp.43-48
• /
• 2008

Characteristics of Sn-1.7%Bi-0.7%Cu-0.6%In (hereafter, SBIC) lead-free solder was investigated in this study. The results from SBIC were compared to other lead-free solders such as Sn-3.5%Ag-0.7%Cu (hereafter, SAC), Sn-0.7%Cu (hereafter, SC), and lead-bearing Sn-37%Pb (hereafter, SP) alloy. Tensile properties of bulk solder, wettability, spreading index, bridge and dross were evaluated. As experimental results, tensile strength and elongation of SBIC was 62.5MPa and 21.5%, respectively. The tensile strength was comparable to that of SP solder. The wetting time of SBIC was 1.2 sec at $250^{\circ}C$, and its wetting properties including wetting force were as good as the SAC alloy. However, wettability of the SC was not so good as the SBIC and SAC. The spreading index of SBIC at $250^{\circ}C$ was 71 %, and it was similar level to those of SAC and SC solders. Bridging was not found for all solders of SBIC, SAC and SC in the range from 240 to $260^{\circ}C$. In dross test at $250^{\circ}C$ for an hour, the amount of dross produced from SBIC was about 57% compared to that from SAC.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.49-55
• /
• 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.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
• /
• v.16 no.3
• /
• pp.112-116
• /
• 2015

This work studied the thickness and contact angle of solder joints between SAC 305 lead-free solder alloy and a Copper (Cu) substrate. Intermetallic compound (IMC) thickness and contact angle of 3Sn-Ag-0.5Cu (SAC 305) leadfree solder were measured using varying aging times, at a fixed temperature at 30℃. The thickness of IMC and contact angle depend on the aging time. IMC thickness increases as the aging increases. The contact angle gradually decreased from 39.49° to 27.59° as aging time increased from zero to 24 hours for big solder sample. Meanwhile, for small solder sample, the contact angle increased from 32.00° to 40.53° from zero to 24 hours. The IMC thickness sharply increased from 0.007 mm to 0.011 mm from zero to 24 hours aging time for big solder. In spite of that, for small solder the IMC thickness gradually increased from 0.009 mm to 0.017 mm. XRD analysis was used to confirm the intermetallic formation inside the sample. Cu₆Sn₅, Cu₃Sn, Ni₃Sn and Ni₃Sn₂ IMC layers were formed between the solder and the copper substrate. As the aging time increased, the strength of the solder joint mproved due to reduced contact angle.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
• /
• v.12 no.1 s.34
• /
• pp.65-71
• /
• 2005

At present, Electronic industries push ahead to eliminate the Pb(Lead) -a hazardous material-from all products. Especially, we have performed to select the optimum standard composition of lead free alloy for the application to products for about 3 years from 2000. These days, we have the chance for applying to the mass-production. This project constructed the system for applying the lead free solders on consumer electronic products, which is one of the major products of the LG Electronics. To select the lead free solders with corresponding to the product features, we have passed through the test and applied with Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu alloy system to our products, and for the application to the high melting temperature composition, we secured the thermal resistance of the many parts and substrate and optimized the processing conditions. We have operated the temperature cycling test and the high temperature storage test under the standards to confirm the reliability of the products. On these samples, we considered the consequence of our decision by the operating test. For the long life time of the product, we have operated the temperature cycling test at $-45^{\circ}C\;-\;+125^{\circ}C$, 1 cycle/hour, 1000 cycles. Also we have tested the tin whisker growth about lead free plating on lead finish. We have analyzed with the SEM, EDS and any other equipment for confirming the failure mode at the joint and the tin whisker growth on lead free finish.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.83-89
• /
• 2014

Solder paste plays a crucial role as the widely used joining material in surface mount technology (SMT). The understanding of its behaviour and properties is essential to ensure the proper functioning of the electronic assemblies. The composition of the solder paste is known to be directly related to its rheological behaviour. This paper provides a brief overview of the solder paste behaviour of four different solder paste formulations, stencil printing processes, and techniques to characterize solder paste behaviour adequately. The solder pastes are based on the Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu alloy, are different in their particle size, metal content and flux system. The solder pastes are characterized in terms of solder particle size and shape as well as the rheological characterizations such as oscillatory sweep tests, viscosity, and creep recovery behaviour of pastes.

• Tribology and Lubricants
• /
• v.24 no.1
• /
• pp.27-33
• /
• 2008

A micro-impression creep machine was designed and developed, adopting a small punch in diameter of 150 um, displacement gage with an accuracy of sub-${\mu}m$ scale, and load-cell with an accuracy of mN scale in order to investigate creep behavior of small solder ball in diameter of less than 1 mm. Creep behavior of lead-free solder ball(Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu) in diameter of $760\;{\mu}m$ was investigated in the stress range of $8{\sim}60\;MPa$ and at $303\;K{\sim}393\;K$. The applied load became decreased slightly and continuously in the creep rate of $10^{-4}/s$ range during the current experiments. Also, the machine frame was so sensitive to the environmental temperature that nm scaled displacement recording was unstable according to the change in environmental temperature.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
• /
• v.34 no.1
• /
• pp.26-34
• /
• 2016

Automotive today has been transforming to an electronic product by adopting a lot of convenience and safety features, suggesting that joining materials and their mechanical reliabilities are getting more important. In this study, a Sn-Cu-Cr-Ca solder composition having a high melting temperature ($>230^{\circ}C$) was fabricated and its joint properties and reliability was investigated with an aim to evaluate the suitability as a joining material for electronics of engine room. Furthermore, mechanical properties change under complex environment were compared with several existing solder compositions. As a result of contact angle measurement, favorable spreadability of 84% was shown and the average shear strength manufactured with corresponding composition solder paste was $1.9kg/mm^2$. Also, thermo-mechanical reliability by thermal shock and vibration test was compared with that of the representative high temperature solder materials such as Sn-3.5Ag, Sn-0.7Cu, and Sn-5.0Sb. In order to fabricate the test module, solder balls were made in joints with ENIG-finished BGA and then the BGA chip was reflowed on the OPS-finished PCB pattern. During the environmental tests, resistance change was continuously monitored and the joint strength was examined after tests. Sn-3.5Ag alloy exhibited the biggest degradation rate in resistance and shear stress and Sn-0.7Cu resulted in a relatively stable reliability against thermo-mechanical stress coming from thermal shock and vibration.