• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.38-44
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• 2008

The micro-structural changes, strength characteristics, and micro-fractural behaviors at the joint interface between a Sn-4.0wt%Ag-0.5wt%Cu solder ball and UBM treated by isothermal aging are reported. From the reflow process for the joint interface, a small amount of intermetallic compound was formed. With an increase in the isothermal aging time, the type and amount of the intermetallic compound changed. The interface without an isothermal treatment showed a ductile fracture. However, with an increase in the aging time, a brittle fracture occurred on the interface due mainly to the increase in the size of the intermetallic compounds and voids. As a result, a drastic degradation in the shear strength was observed. From a microshear test by a scanning electron microscope, the generation of micro-cracks was initiated from the voids at the joint interface. They propagated along the same interface, resulting in coalescence with neighboring cracks into larger cracks. With an increase in the aging time, the generation of the micro-structural cracks was enhanced and the degree of propagation also accelerated.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.72-77
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• 2002

Flip-chip interconnection that uses solder bump is an essential technology to improve the performance of microelectronics which require higher working speed, higher density, and smaller size. In this paper, the shear strength of Cr/Cr-Cu/Cu UBM structure of the high-melting solder b01p and that of low-melting solder bump after aging is evaluated. Observe intermetallic compound and bump joint condition at the interface between solder and UBM by SEM and TEM. And analyze the shear load concentrated to bump applying finite element analysis. As a result of experiment, the maximum shear strength of Sn-97wt%Pb which was treated 900 hrs aging has been decreased as 25% and Sn-37wt%Pb sample has been decreased as 20%. By the aging process, the growth of $Cu_6Sn_5$ and $Cu_3Sn$ is ascertained. And the tendency of crack path movement that is interior of a solder to intermetallic compound interface is found.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.1-6
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• 2019

Wettability is an important factor to decide solderability of solder, flux, other soldering-related materials and soldering conditions. The wettability also affects the reliability of solder joint. Wetting balance test is a good method for quantitatively measuring wettability between solder and substrate. The wetting balance test is easy to reproduce the wetting experiment and to measure the wetting time and force. And this test provides wetting curve to calculate the surface tension of the molten solder. Development of new solder has been continued in accordance with various and harsh environment in the electronics industry. In this paper, the principle of wetting balance test and recent research issues including nano-composite solder are explained.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.21 no.7
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• pp.59-64
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• 2003

Microstructure and shear strength of Sn-Zn lead-free solders and Au/Ni/Cu UBM joint under thermal aging conditions was investigated. The samples were aged isothermally at 10$0^{\circ}C$ and 15$0^{\circ}C$ for 300, 600, and 900 hours. The IMCs(Intermetallic Compound) at the interface between solder and UBM were examined by FESEM and TEM. The results showed that the shear strength was decreased with aging time and temperature. The solder ball with high activated RA flux had about 8.2% higher shear strength than that of RMA flux. Poor wetting and many voids were observed in the fractured solder joint with of RMA flux. The decreased shear strengths were caused by IMC growth and Zn grain coarsening. Zn reacted with Au and then was transformed to the $\beta$ -AuZn compound. Although AuZn grew first, $r-Ni_5Zn_{21}$ compounds were formed with aging time. The layers indicated by $Ni_5Zn_{21}(1)$, (2), and (3) were formed with the thickness of ∼0.7 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$, ∼4 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$, and ∼2 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$, respectively.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.1163-1171
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• 2016

Integration technologies involving flexible substrates are receiving significant attention owing the appearance of new products regarding wearable and Internet of Things technologies. There has been a continuous demand from the industry for a reliable bonding method applicable to a low-temperature process and flexible substrates. Up to now, however, an anisotropic conductive film (ACF) has been predominantly used in applications involving flexible substrates; we therefore suggest low-temperature lead-free soldering and bonding processes as a possible alternative for flex-on-flex applications. Test vehicles were designed on polyimide flexible substrates (FPCBs) to measure the contact resistances. Solder bumping was carried out using a solder-on-pad process with Solder Bump Maker based on Sn58Bi for low-temperature applications. In addition, thermocompression bonding of FPCBs was successfully demonstrated within the temperature of $150^{\circ}C$ using a newly developed fluxing underfill material with fluxing and curing capabilities at low temperature. The same FPCBs were bonded using commercially available ACFs in order to compare the joint properties with those of a joint formed using solder and an underfill. Both of the interconnections formed with Sn58Bi and ACF were examined through a contact resistance measurement, an $85^{\circ}C$ and 85% reliability test, and an SEM cross-sectional analysis.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.89-96
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• 2002

This study examined the effects of adding Zn to Sn-3.5Ag solder on the microstructure changes and behavior of interface reaction of the solder joint with Cu substrate. The solder/Cu joints were examined with microscope to observe the characteristics of microstructure changes and interfacial reaction layer with aging treatment for up to 120 days at $150^{\circ}C$. Results of the microstructure changes showed that the microstructures were coarsened with aging treatment, while adding 1%Zn suppresses coarsening microstructures. The Sn-3.5Ag/Cu had a fast growth rate of the reaction layer in comparison with the Sn-3.5Ag-1Zn at the aging temperature of $150^{\circ}C$. Through the SEM/EDS analysis of solder joint, it was proved that intermetallic layer was $Cu_6Sn_5$ phase and aged specimens showed that intermetallic layer grew in proportion to $t^{1/2}$, and the precipitate of $Ag_3Sn$ occur to both inner layer and interface of layer and solder. In case of Zn-containing composite solder, $Cu_6Sn_5$ phase formed at the side of substrate and Cu-Zn-Sn phase formed at the other side in double layer. It seems that Cu-Zn-Sn phase formed at solder side did a roll of banrier to suppress the growth of the $Cu_6Sn_5$ layer during the aging treatment.

• 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.

• 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.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.112-116
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• 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
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.35-41
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• 2015

In this study, in order to improve the reliability of ACF interconnections, solder ACF joints were investigated interms of solder joint morphology and solder wetting areas, and evaluated the electrical properties of Flex-on-Board (FOB) interconncections. Solder ACF joints with the ultrasonic bonding method showed excellent solder wetting by broken solder oxide layers on solder surfaces compared with solder joints with remaining solder oxide layer bonded by the conventional thermo-compression (TC) bonding method. When higher target temperature was used, Sn58Bi solder joints showed concave shape due to lower degree of cure of resin at solder MP by higher heating rate. ACFs with epoxy resins and SAC305 solders showed lower degree of resin cure at solder MP due to the slow curing rate resulting in concave shaped solder joints. In terms of solder wetting area, solder ACFs with $25-32{\mu}m$ diameters and 30-40 wt% showed highest wetted solder areas. Solder ACF joints with the concave shape and the highest wetting area showed lower contact resistances and higher reliability in PCT results than conventional ACF joints. These results indicate that solder morphologies and wetting areas of solder ACF joints can be controlled by adjustment of bonding conditions and material properties of solder and polymer resin to improve reliability of ACF joints.