Enhancement of creep resistance and thermal behavior of eutectic Sn–Cu lead-free solder alloy by Ag and In-additions

The eutectic Sn–0.7Cu solder alloy is widely used in electronic packaging in which the creep property of the solder joint is essential to meet the global demand for longer operating lifetime in their applications. In this study, the influence of Ag and In additions on tensile creep behavior and thermal properties of bulk eutectic Sn–Cu solder alloy is reported. Results show that addition of Ag and In resulted not only in the formation of new Ag₃Sn and γ-SnIn₄ intermetallic compounds (IMCs), but also in the refinement of grain size of Sn–0.7Cu solder from ∼0.50 to ∼0.15 μm. Accordingly, the creep properties of the Ag or In-containing solder alloys are notably improved. The creep strain rate increases and creep lifetime decreases as the applied stress level and temperature increase. Room and elevated-temperature creep rate of bulk Sn–Cu solder was reduced by 521.0% after Ag addition, but for In addition the reduction was about 200.7%. These differences are attributed to the presence of new Ag₃Sn and γ-SnIn₄ precipitates and their rules in classical dispersion strengthening as a separate phases. Moreover, the eutectic temperature of Sn–0.7Cu is decreased from 227.4 to 217.8 and 224.0 °C with the addition of Ag and In, respectively.     

Tensile creep behavior of Sn–Ag–Cu–Ni multicomponent lead-free solder alloy

In the process of electronic packaging, the dissolution of under bump metallizations, such as Cu and Ni, into liquid solder occurs during soldering, which can change the original solder to a multicomponent one. Under the trend of miniaturization, it is quite necessary to evaluate the properties of multicomponent solder with excessive Cu and Ni compositions. In this study, the tensile creep behavior of Sn–3.5Ag–2.0Cu–0.5Ni multicomponent lead-free solder alloy is investigated at three temperatures, i.e., 303, 348 and 393 K. The steady-rate creep rates are obtained in the range of 10^?4–10^?8 s^?1, when the normalized stress, σ/E, is in the range of 10^?4–10^?3. Based on the Dorn equation, the apparent stress exponent (n _a), threshold stress (σ _th), and activation energy of creep (Q _C) are calculated at the three temperatures. It is found that the Sn–3.5Ag–2.0Cu–0.5Ni solder alloy shows a better creep performance than pure tin and eutectic Sn–3.5Ag solder due to the strengthening effect of Ag₃Sn and (Cu,Ni)₆Sn₅ IMC precipitations. The true stress exponent for creep is identified to be 7, indicating that the creep behave is controlled by the dislocation-pipe diffusion in the tin matrix.     

Evolution of thermal property and creep resistance of Ni and Zn-doped Sn–2.0Ag–0.5Cu lead-free solders

The effect of small amount of Ni and Zn additions on thermal behavior and creep properties of Sn–2Ag–0.5Cu (SAC 205) lead free solder alloy was investigated. Additions of Ni and Zn, respectively, into SAC (205) solder caused its undercooling temperature to decrease significantly from 26.1 °C to 18.0 and 1.4 °C. The results show that the formation of new (Cu,Ni)₆Sn₅ and Cu₅Zn₈ hard particles in the β-Sn matrix are drastically strengthen the SAC (205) solder. The lead-free SAC (205) – 0.5Zn solder joints showed superior creep resistance in terms of much lower creep rate and elongated creep fracture lifetime over the traditional SAC (205) and SAC (205) – 0.05Ni solders. However, the ductility of SAC (205) – 0.5Zn alloy is lower than that of the other two alloys. This difference was attributed to the lower precipitate coarsening and higher precipitate density of Cu₅Zn₈ and Ag₃Sn IMCs in Zn-doped SAC (205) cast alloy, which could provide more obstacles for dislocation pile up in the adjacent β-Sn grains. Nevertheless, the strengthening effect depends on the undercooling of the solder.     

Effect of microstructure and Ag3Sn intermetallic compounds on corrosion behavior of Sn–3.0Ag–0.5Cu lead-free solder

In this paper, the effects of microstructure on the corrosion behavior of Sn–3.0Ag–0.5Cu (SAC305) lead-free solder were investigated by potentiodynamic polarization and atmospheric corrosion test. Scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction were used to characterize the samples after the electrochemical and atmospheric corrosion tests. Results showed that commercial SAC305 solder exhibits better corrosion resistance than air-cooled and furnace-cooled SAC305 solders both in 3.5 wt% NaCl solution and at 60 °C/100 % relative humidity condition.     

Effects of microstructure and temperature on corrosion behavior of Sn–3.0Ag–0.5Cu lead-free solder

The heterogeneous microstructure of solder could be obtained when cooling rate of the solder joint was not even, which would affect the corrosion behavior of solder during service. The ambient temperature would also affect the corrosion behavior of solder joint. In this paper, the effects of microstructure and temperature on the corrosion behavior of Sn–3.0Ag–0.5Cu (SAC305) lead-free solder were investigated. The various microstructures of SAC305 lead-free solder were obtained by cooling specimens in air and furnace. Compared to the fine-fibrous Ag₃Sn phase inside the commercial SAC305 solder, platelet-like Ag₃Sn formed as cooling speed decreasing. The polarization behavior of SAC305 solders in 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution was not significantly affected by various microstructures, but sensitive to temperature.     

Interface behavior and performance of Sn–Ag–Cu lead-free solder bearing Tb

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics - To further improve the performance of the Sn–3.5Ag–0.5Cu solder, trace amount of rare earth Tb was added. The wettability, shear...     

Thermal analysis and mechanical properties of Sn–1.0Ag–0.5Cu solder alloy after modification with SiC nano-sized particles

The size and morphology of intermetallic compounds (IMCs) of Sn–1.0Ag–0.5Cu (SAC105) solder alloys can have a significant influence on the mechanical strength of solder joints. The aim of the present study is to investigate the influence of SiC nano-particles addition on the microstructure, thermal behavior, and corresponding mechanical properties of SAC(105) solder alloys. Results show that the addition of SiC nanoparticles into the SAC(105) alloy melt prompts the formation of primary β-Sn phase with small sub-grain size in the solidified structure. The SiC nanoparticles can offer an additional nucleation sites for the formation of refined Ag₃Sn and Cu₆Sn₅ IMCs. The hard SiC particles and refined IMCs with small spacing could obstruct the dislocation slipping and thus, lead to a strong dispersion strengthening mechanism in the composite solder. As a result, the composite SAC(105)/SiC solder displayed a higher ultimate tensile strength and 0.2 % yield strength (0.2 %YS) than that of plain SAC(105) solder. The addition of SiC nano-sized particles can also effectively reduce the undercooling and pasty range, while the melting temperature is maintained at the SAC(105) level, indicating that the novel composite solder is fit for existing soldering process.     

Impression creep of the rare-earth doped Sn–2%Bi lead-free solder alloy

Creep behavior of the Sn–2Bi–RE alloys containing 0.1, 0.25 and 0.5 wt% rare earth (RE) elements was studied by impression testing and compared to that of the Sn–2Bi alloy. The tests were carried out under constant punching stress in the range 70–190 MPa and at temperatures in the range 298–370 K. Results showed that for all loads and temperatures, Sn–2Bi–0.25RE had the lowest creep rate, and thus the highest creep resistance among all materials tested. This was attributed to the formation of Sn–Bi, Sn–RE, and Sn–Bi–RE intermetallic particles which act as both strengthening agent and grain refiner in the RE-containing Sn–2Bi alloy. RE contents higher than 0.25 wt%, resulted in a lower creep resistance due to the formation of the same intermetallics but with much higher Bi content. This consumes the Bi content of the matrix and reduces the corresponding solid solution hardening, resulting in a lower creep resistance of the material. The stress exponents in the range 8–10.5, 8.4–11.5, 8.8–12.3, 8.4–11.6 and average activation energies of 64.5, 65.1, 67.4 and 68.0 kJ mol^?1 were obtained for Sn–2Bi, Sn–2Bi–0.1RE, Sn–2Bi–0.25RE, and Sn–2Bi–0.5RE, respectively. Although these activation energies are close to the activation energy of lattice self diffusion for β-Sn, the relatively high stress exponents of about 8–12 suggests that creep mechanisms associated with dislocation movement such as dislocation creep are prevailing.     

Thermal creep and fracture behaviors of the lead-free Sn–Ag–Cu–Bi solder interconnections under different stress levels

In our previous study, the creep behavior of the lead-free Sn–Ag–Cu–Bi solder joints has been proven to follow the Arrhenius power-law relationship, and the thermal fatigue behavior of the solder joints exhibits the typical creep deformation characteristics with a superposition of the pulsating features. In this study, the thermal creep and fracture behaviors of the lead-free Sn–Ag–Cu–Bi solder interconnections were characterized under different stress levels, with a systematical comparison to that of a traditional Sn60Pb40 near-eutectic solder. The results show that the creep strain rate of both solder connections follows Weertman-Dorn equation, and the calculated creep stress exponent for two solders is reasonably close to other published data. The SEM inspection and analysis of fractographies of creep fractured solder joints manifest that the creep failure of the lead-free Sn–Ag–Cu–Bi solder joint shows obviously intergranular fracture mechanism, while the Sn60Pb40 joint ruptures dominantly by a transgranular sliding mechanism.     

Room-temperature indentation creep of lead-free Sn–Bi solder alloys

Creep behavior of the lead-free Sn–Bi alloys with bismuth contents in the range of 1–5 wt.% was studied by long time Vickers indentation testing at room temperature. The materials were examined in the homogenized cast and wrought conditions. The stress exponents, determined through different indentation methods, were in good agreement. The exponents of 13.4–15.3 and 9.2–10.0, found respectively for the cast and wrought conditions, are close to those determined by room-temperature conventional creep testing of the same material reported in the literature. Due to the solid solution hardening effects of Bi in Sn, creep rate decreased and creep resistance increased with increasing Bi content of the materials. Cast alloys, with a rather coarser grain structure and some Bi particles at the grain boundaries, showed typically higher resistance to indentation creep compared to the wrought materials. These two factors have apparently resulted in a less tendency of the material for grain boundary accommodated deformation, which is considered as a process to decrease the creep resistance of soft materials.     

Effect of zinc additions on structure and properties of Sn–Ag eutectic lead-free solder alloy

The effects of a third element, i.e., Zn in the range of 0.5–2.5 wt.%, on structure and properties of the binary Sn–Ag eutectic lead-free solder alloy were investigated. To identify the structure of the resulting alloys, X-ray diffraction analysis has been carried out. Resistivity, contact angles, Vickers microhardness and Young’s modulus have been measured. The results showed that all Zn contents were restricted in formation of Ag-Zn compound indicated by X-ray diffraction peaks, which increased continuously in the number and intensity as Zn content increased. Adding Zn up to 1.5 wt.% improved the wetting and mechanical properties. Above that, wetting angle increased due to the increase in AgZn compound, which may accumulated at the interface between solders and copper- substrate resulting a decrease in the adhesive strength. The alloy of composition Sn-3.5Ag-1.5Zn has the most improved properties between the others.     

Development of a lead-free composite solder from Sn–Ag–Cu and Ag-coated carbon nanotubes

The microelectronic applications of lead-free solders pose ever-increasing demands. We seek to improve the solder by forming composites with Ag-coated single-walled carbon nanotubes (Ag-coated SWCNTs). These were incorporated into 96.5Sn–3.0Ag–0.5Cu solder alloy with an ultrasonic mixing technique. Composite solder pastes with 0.01–0.10 wt% nanotube reinforcement were prepared. The wettability, melting temperature, microstructure and mechanical properties of the composite solders were determined, and their dependency on nanotube loading assessed. Loading with 0.01 wt% Ag-coated SWCNTs improved the composite solder’s wetting properties, and the contact angle was reduced by 45.5 %, while over loading of the coated nanotubes up to 0.10 wt% degraded the wettability. DSC results showed only slight effects on the melting behavior of the composite solders. Cross-section microstructure analysis of the spreading specimens revealed uniform distribution of the intermetallic compounds throughout the solder matrix, and EDS analysis identified the phases as β-Sn, Ag₃Sn and Cu₆Sn₅. The mechanical properties of composite specimens, compared with those of unloaded 96.5Sn–3.0Ag–0.5Cu solder, had a maximal improvement in the shear strength of 11 % when the nanotube loading was 0.01 wt% of Ag-coated SWCNTs.     

Torsional fatigue with axial constant stress for Sn–3Ag–0.5Cu lead-free solder

A series of multiaxial ratcheting–fatigue interaction tests have been carried out on Sn–3Ag–0.5Cu lead-free solder specimens. All tests were conducted under cyclic shear strain with the constant axial stress at the room temperature with the shear strain rate of 5 × 10⁻³ s⁻¹. It was found that the ratcheting strain increased with increasing axial stress and shear strain amplitude while the fatigue life decreased at the same time. The ratcheting strain rate was linear with axial stress in double logarithmic coordinate. The Ohno–Wang II constitutive model was employed to simulate the stress–strain responses. Several fatigue life prediction models were applied to predict the multiaxial ratcheting–fatigue life of the Sn–3Ag–0.5Cu lead-free solder. The Gao–Chen model which adopted the maximum shear strain and the ratcheting strain rate as the damage parameter predicted the multiaxial ratcheting fatigue life well.     

Development of a Sn–Ag–Cu solder reinforced with Ni-coated carbon nanotubes

In this study, Ni-coated carbon nanotubes (Ni-CNTs) were incorporated into the 95.8Sn-3.5Ag-0.7Cu solder alloy using the powder metallurgy route. Up to 0.3 wt% of Ni-CNTs were successfully incorporated. The effects of Ni-CNTs on the physical, thermal and mechanical properties of Sn–Ag–Cu solder alloy were investigated. With the addition of increasing weight percentages of Ni-CNTs, the composite solders showed a corresponding decrease in density values and improved wetting properties. The thermomechanical property results showed an improvement in thermal stability for the composite solders. Mechanical characterization revealed an improvement in ultimate tensile strength (up to 12%) and 0.2% yield strength (up to 8%) with the addition of 0.05 wt% Ni-CNTs in the solder.     

Study on creep characterization of nano-sized Ag particle-reinforced Sn–Pb composte solder joints

In the present work, the creep strain of solder joints is measured using a stepped load creep test on a single specimen. Based on the experimental results, the constitutive model on the steady-state creep strain is established by applying a linear curve fitting for the nano-sized Ag particle-reinforced Sn37Pb based composite solder joint and the Sn37Pb solder joint, respectively. It is indicated that the activation energy of the Ag particle-reinforced Sn37Pb based composite solder joints is higher than that of Sn37Pb solder joints. It is expected that the creep resistance of the Ag particle-reinforced Sn37Pb based composite solder joints is superior to that of Sn37Pb solder.     

Effect of aging treatment on microstructure and creep behaviour of Sn–Ag and Sn–Ag–Bi solder alloys

Abstract

The present study was undertaken to investigate the influence of aging temperature on the creep behaviour of Sn–Ag and Sn–Ag–Bi solder alloys at testing temperatures ranging from 333 to 363 K under constant stress of 7·80 MPa. The steady state creep rate was found to increase continuously with increasing aging temperature at all testing temperatures. Results show that addition of Bi to the binary Sn–Ag solder alloy led to a significant increase in the strength and improvement in the creep resistance. The activation energy for the creep process of Sn–Ag and Sn–Ag–Bi solder alloys was found to have an average value of 36 and 45 kJ mol^?1 respectively. This might be characterised by diffusion of Ag in Sn. The microstructure of the aged samples for both alloys examined by X-ray diffraction measurements supported the improvement in the creep resistance for Sn–Ag alloy by adding a small trace of Bi.     

Microstructure,mechanical properties,and deformation behavior of Sn–1.0Ag–0.5Cu solder after Ni and Sb additions

Minor alloying addition to solders has been an important strategy to improve the integrity and reliability of Pb-free solders joint. In this study, the effects of 0.06Ni and 0.5Sb additives on the microstructure and solidification behavior as well as the creep properties of Sn–1.0Ag–0.5Cu (SAC105) alloys were investigated. Results show that alloying of Ni and Sb resulted in considerably reduced undercooling, increased eutectic area and extended volume fraction of proeutectic Sn of which the dendritic size was refined. Moreover, with the addition of Ni and Sb into SAC105, significant improvement in creep resistance of (210%) and (350%) is realized when compared with the SAC105 solder alloy. Likewise, the creep life time of SAC105 alloys was remarkably enhanced (2–3 times) with the minor alloying additions. An analysis of the creep behavior at elevated temperatures suggested that the presence of hard Ni₃Sn₄ IMC particles and the solid solution hardening effects which appeared, respectively, in the Ni-doped and Sb-doped alloys could increase the resistance to dislocation movement, which improves the creep properties.     

Effects of Ga addition on microstructure and properties of Sn–0.5Ag–0.7Cu solder

The effects of rare element Ga on solderability, microstructure, and mechanical properties of Sn–0.5Ag–0.7Cu lead-free solder were investigated. The experimental results show that Ga plays a positive role in improving the wettability and the microstructure of the solder. When the content of Ga is at 0.5 wt%, the grain size of the solder is smaller and the shear force is enhanced greatly. It is also found that the thickness of the IMCs at the solder/Cu interface is reduced with proper addition of Ga. The increase of mechanical properties may be related to the refining of IMCs of the solder due to Ga addition.     

Corrosion behavior of Sn–3.0Ag–0.5Cu solder under high-temperature and high-humidity condition

The aim of this study is to evaluate the corrosion behavior of Sn–3.0Ag–0.5Cu (SAC305) solder alloy under high-temperature and high-humidity condition. The corrosion of SAC305 alloy was attributed to the oxidation of Sn, which formed SnO₂ and SnO, and SnO₂ existed on the outer layer of the oxide film. After a period exposure, a stable and dense protective oxide film formed on the specimen surfaces, and the specimen which exposed at 75 °C had the thickset oxide film.     

Enhanced ductility and mechanical strength of Ni-doped Sn–3.0Ag–0.5Cu lead-free solders

In this paper, the tensile tests were conducted to investigate the effect of adding a small amount of Ni on the microstructure, thermal and mechanical properties of 3.0Ag–0.5Cu(SAC 305) solder. The results indicated that addition of Ni can effectively decrease both the undercooling and the onset melting temperature of SAC(305) solder alloy. The strength and ductility of the SAC(305) solder depend significantly on Ni content. In general, the SAC(305)–0.5%Ni solder reveals superior mechanical properties in terms of maximum strength and ductility when compared to the high Ni-content or plain solders. Microstructure analysis revealed that a new η-(Cu,Ni)₆Sn₅ intermetallic compound (IMC) phase containing large amount of Ni was generated, while the initial Cu₆Sn₅ phase was converted into (Cu,Ni)₆Sn₅ phase after 0.5%Ni addition. Besides, the fine fiber-like Ag₃Sn and finer dot-shaped precipitates rather than needle-like morphology have occurred at the surface of β-Sn matrix easily, which could provide more obstacles for dislocation pile up in the adjacent grains and enhanced the mechanical property. With increasing Ni addition, the Ni-doped SAC(305) solder showed a corresponding deterioration in their mechanical property due to the coarsening of (Cu,Ni)₆Sn₅ IMCs and increasing the inter-particle spacing of Ag₃Sn IMCs in the eutectic colony.