• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.170-176
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• 2017

EPIG (Electroless Pd/immersion Au) process was studied to replace ENIG (electroless Ni/immersion Au) and ENEPIG (electroless Ni/electroless Pd/immersion Au) processes for bump surface treatment used in high reliable flip chip packages. The palladium and gold layers formed by EPIG process were uniform with thickness of 125 nm and 34.5 nm, respectively. EPAG (Electroless Pd/autocatalytic Au) also produced even layers of palladium and gold with the thickness of 115 nm and 100 nm. TEM results exhibited that the gold layer in EPIG surface had crystalline structure while the palladium layer was amorphous one. After annealing at 250 nm, XPS analysis indicated that the palladium layer with thickness more than 22~33 nm could act as a diffusion barrier of copper interconnects. As a result of comparing the chip shear strength obtained from ENIG and EPIG surfaces, it was confirmed that the bonding strength was similar each other as 12.337 kg and 12.330 kg, respectively.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.35-40
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• 2008

Investigation on immersion gold layers was carried out using TEM analysis for the purpose of understanding the defect of immersion gold layer. The immersion gold layers prepared with three different types of baths were observed. The results showed that the defect structure of immersion gold layer is strongly dependent on the types of gold baths. Spherical defects of average 10 nm size were located along the grain boundaries for the specimen formed at KAu$(CN)_2$ bath containing no reducing agent. In the case of the specimen processed at KAu$(CN)_2$ bath containing a reducing agent, the spherical defects of 5-10 nm size were distributed randomly in grains as well as at grain boundaries. However, such defects disappeared almost completely when $Na_{3}Au(SO_3)_2$ bath was used to fabricate an immersion gold.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.99-106
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• 2011

Joint strength between a solder ball and a pad on a substrate is one of the major factors which have effects on electronic device reliability. The effort to improve solder joint strength via surface cleaning, heat treatment and solder composition change have been in progress. This paper will discuss the method of solder ball joint strength improvement using LF hydrogen radical cleaning treatment and focus on the effects of surface treatment condition on the solder ball shear strength and interfacial reactions. In the joint without radical cleaning, voids were observed at the interface. However, the specimens cleaned by hydrogen-radical didn't have voids at the interface regardless of cleaning time. The shear strength between the solder ball and the pad was increased over 120%(about 800gf) when compared to that without the radical treatment (680gf) under the same reflow condition. Especially, at the specimen treated for 5minutes, ball shear strength was considerably increased over 150%(1150gf). Through the observation of fracture surface and cross-section microstructure, the increase of joint strength resulted from the change of fracture mode, that is, from the solder ball fracture to IMC/Ni(P) interfacial fracture. The other cases like radical treated specimen for 1, 3, 7, 9min. showed IMC/solder interfacial fracture rather than fracture in the solder ball.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2010.05a
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• pp.81-81
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• 2010

전자 패키징은 미세화, 경량화, 저가화를 지향하고 신뢰성의 향상을 위해 발전해 왔다. 이러한 경향은 전자부품 자체의 성능 향상 뿐 아니라 전자부품을 장착, 고정할 수 있게 하는 인쇄회로 기판(PCB : Printed Circuit Board)의 성능에 많은 관심을 가지게 되었다. 전기적 신호의 손실을 줄이기 위해 전기, 전자 산업체에서는 가볍고 굴곡성이 우수한 연성인쇄회로기판(FPCB : Flexible PCB)과 가격이 싸고 신뢰성이 입증된 경성인쇄회로기판(RPCB : Rigid PCB)이 그 대상이다. 본 논문에서는 이 PCB중에서도 RPCB와 FPCB간의 열압착 방식으로 접합 시 전극간의 접합 양상을 보았다. 이 열압착 방식은 기존에 PCB를 접합하는데 사용하고 있는 connector를 이용한 체결법을 대체하는 기술로써 솔더를 중간층(interlayer)로 이용하여 열과 압력으로 접합하는 방식이다. 이 방식을 connector를 사용하는 방식에 비해 그 부피가 작고 I/O개수에 크게 영향 받지 않으며 자동화 공정이 쉬운 장점을 가지고 있다. 접합의 대상 중 RPCB의 경우는 무전해 니켈 금도금(ENIG : Electroless Nickle Immersion Gold)로 제작하였으며 FPCB의 경우는 ENIG와 유기보호피막(OSP : Organic solderability preservation) 처리하였다. 실험에 사용한 PCB는 $300\;{\mu}m$ pitch의 미세피치이며 솔더의 조성은 Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu (in wt%)과 Sn-3.0Ag (in wt%)를 사용하였다. 접합 온도와 접합 시간 그리고 접합 압력에 따라 최적의 접합 조건을 도출하였다. 접합 강도는 $90^{\circ}$ Peel Test를 통해서 측정하였으며 접합면 및 파괴면은 SEM과 EDS를 통하여 분석하였다.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.71-77
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• 2012

We studied the effect of heat treatment on the microstructures and mechanical strength of the solder joints in the Light Emitting Diode (LED) packages. The commercial LED packages were mounted on the a flame resistance-4 (FR4) Printed Circuit Board (PCB) in the reflow process, and then the joints were aged at $125^{\circ}C$ for 100, 200, 300, 500 and 1000 hours, respectively. After the heat treatment, we measured the shear strength of the solder joints between the PCB and the LED packages to evaluate their mechanical property. We used Pb-free Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu solder to bond between the LED packages and the PCBs using two different surface finishes, Electroless Nickel-Immersion Gold (ENIG) and Electroless Nickel-Electroless Palladium-Immersion Gold (ENEPIG). The microstructure of the solder joints was observed by a scanning electron microscope (SEM). (Cu,Ni)6Sn5 intermetallic compounds (IMCs) formed between the solder and the PCB, and the thickness of the IMCs was increased with increasing aging time. The shear strength for the ENIG finished LED package increased until aging for 300 h and then decreased with increasing aging time. On the other hand, in the case of an ENEPIG finished LED package, the shear strength decreased after aging for 500 h.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.202-208
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• 2009

The effects of aging time on the microstructure and shear strength of the Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic (LTCC)/Ag pad/Electroless Nickel Immersion Gold (ENIG)/BGA solder joints were investigated through isothermal aging at $150^{\circ}C$ for 1000 h with conventional Sn-37Pb and Sn-3Ag-0.5Cu. $Ni_3Sn_4$ intermetallic compound (IMC) layers was formed at the interface between Sn-37Pb solder and LTCC substrate as-reflowed state, while $(Ni,Cu)_3Sn_4$ IMC layer was formed between Sn-3Ag-0.5Cu solder and LTCC substrate. Additional $(Cu,Ni)_6Sn_5$ layer was found at the interface between the $(Ni,Cu)_3Sn_4$ layer and Sn-3Ag-0.5Cu solder after aging at $150^{\circ}C$ for 500 h. Thickness of the IMC layers increased and coarsened with increasing aging time. Shear strength of both solder joints increased with increasing aging time. Failure mode of BGA solder joints with LTCC substrate after shear testing revealed that shear strength of the joints depended on the adhesion between Ag metallization and LTCC. Fracture mechanism of Sn-37Pb solder joint was a mixture of ductile and pad lift, while that of Sn-3Ag-0.5Cu solder joint was a mixture of ductile and brittle $(Ni,Cu)_3Sn_4$ IMC fracture morphology. Failure mechanisms of LTCC/Ag pad/ENIG/BGA solder joints were also interpreted by finite element analyses.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2013.05a
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• pp.132-132
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• 2013

본 연구는 R/F-PCB(Rigid/Flexible Printed circuit Board)의 Cu Pattern에 최종 표면처리 방법으로 사용되는 ENIG(Electroless Ni/Immersion Gold) 공정을 대체하여 ECIG(Electroless Co/Immersion Gold)공정을 적용하고자 하는 것으로 무전해 니켈 도금의 장점인 고경도, 내마모성, 납땜성, 내식성을 가지면서 니켈 도금의 취약점인 연성을 개선한 도금액을 개발하고자 하였다. 개발된 도금액을 이용하여 Cu Pattern에 도금할 경우 일반 무전해 니켈 도금에서 나타나는 불량 원인 중 하나인 Space 부분에 도금이 되는 현상이 현저히 감소하였으며, 연성 또한 향상됨을 관찰할 수 있었다.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.676-681
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• 2007

According to progress rapidly digitalization, networked and mobilization of electronics industry, there are demands for being smaller, thinner, more light, and more efficient complex functions of electronic devices which are wireless devices, semi-conductors, packages and mobile devices. Therefore, the solder resist on a printed circuit board have been required with the high resolution and the eco-friendly materials in the surface treatments such as high heating process and coating process with electrolysis. In this study, the photoinitiator initiator and monomers of the solder resist were prepared with their contents for reducing the occurrence of the under-cut. We investigated the sample surface by UV/VIS spectrometer, FT-IR, OM after HASL and ENIG process. From our results, it is possible to get a high adhesion of resist with optimal contents between the photoinitiator initiator and monomers after surface treatments.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2017.05a
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• pp.120.2-120.2
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• 2017

본 연구에서는 고신뢰성 인쇄회로기판이나 플립칩 패키지에 적용되는 범프 표면처리에서 널리 사용되는, ENIG나 ENEPIG 대체를 위한 electroless Pd/immersion Au(EPIG)에 대하여 연구하였다. Transmission electron microscopy(TEM) 분석 결과 형성된 Au layer는 crystalline, Pd layer는 amorphous 임을 확인하였으며, 열처리 후 X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS)를 통하여 EPIG층이 하부 copper의 확산방지막으로서 효과가 있음을 알 수 있었다. 또한, 비정질 Pd layer가 확산을 방지하기 위하여는 일정수준 이상의 두께가 필요하며, 그 두께는 35~65nm 수준임을 알 수 있었다.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.167-169
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• 2016

Solder/electroless nickel immersion gold (ENIG) joint sample which is comprised of dissimilar materials with different mechanical properties has limited the level of success in preparing thin samples for transmission electron microscopy (TEM). This short technical note reports the operation parameters for ultramicrotomy of solder joint sample and TEM analysis results. The solder joint sample was successfully sliced to 50~70 nm thick lamellae at slicing speed of 0.8~1.2 mm/s using a boat-type $45^{\circ}$ diamond knife. Ultramicrotomy can be applied as a routine sample preparation technique for TEM analysis of solder joints.