• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.155-161
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• 2013

In this study, a metal-plated polycarbonate was adopted as a material for bipolar plates in a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). The coated layers included 40-${\mu}m$-thick copper, 10-${\mu}m$-thick nickel, and 0.3-${\mu}m$-thick gold that respectively played the roles of current conduction, adhesion between copper and gold, and minimization of surface corrosion. The maximum power of the air-breathing PEMFC with polycarbonate bipolar plates was $120mW/cm^2$, which was similar to that of graphite bipolar plates. Finally, the maximum power of a 12-cell stack of polycarbonate bipolar plates was $132.7mW/cm^2$, and it had an operating time of 12 h. Therefore, this was considered a suitable material for bipolar plates in PEMFCs.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.169-176
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• 2012

Based on our experience in developing resistive humidity sensor, interdigital gold electrodes with different fingers and gaps have been fabricated on a glass epoxy (GE) substrate using screen printing techniques. The basic structure of the electrode consisted of a 3-, 4- and 5-fingers with gaps of 310 and 460 ${\mu}m$. Gold electrode/GE was prepared by first printing silver nanopaste, followed by consecutive electroless plating of Cu, Ni and then Au. Copolymer of [2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl] dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride (MDBAC) and methyl methacrylate (MMA) was used as a humidity-sensing polyelectrolyte, which was fabricated by a screen printing method on the Au electrode/GE substrate. The flexible humidity sensor showed acceptable linearity between logarithmic impedance and relative humidity in the range of 20-95%RH, low hysteresis of 1.5%RH, good response and recovery time of 75 sec at 1 V, 1 kHz, and $25^{\circ}C$. Electrode construction had a significant influence on the humidity-sensing characteristics of polymeric humidity sensors. The activation energy between electrode and ion conducting polyelectrolyte plays an important role in explaining the differences of humidity sensing characteristics such as temperature dependence, sensitivity, linearity and hysteresis.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.31-36
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• 2012

In this study, the complex vibration reliability of Sn-3.5Ag and Sn-0.7Cu having a high melting temperature was investigated. For manufacturing of BGA test samples, Sn-3.5Ag and Sn-0.7Cu balls were joined on BGA chips finished by ENIG and the chips were mounted on PCB finished OSP by using reflow process. For measuring of resistance change during complex vibration test, daisy chain was formed in the test board. From the results of resistance change and shear strength change, the reliability of two solder balls was compared and evaluated. During complex vibration for 120 hours, Sn-0.7Cu solder was more stable than Sn-3.5Ag solder in complex vibration test.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics A
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• v.31A no.10
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• pp.87-93
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• 1994

Ohmic contacts between Au and p-HgHg_{0.7}Cd_{0.3}Te$ with low specific contact resistance have been obtained. The contact region of the wafer is first pre-heated for 5 seconds in a rapid thermal processing equipment. The temperature reaches a maximum value of about 200$^{\circ}C$ at the end of the 5 seconds. Next, a thin Au film is formed on the contact region by immersing the sample in AuCl$_{3}$ solution. the sample is then post-annealed in the same condition as the pre-heating after Pb/In pad metals are deposited on the electroless Au contacts. The specific contact resistance measured by transmission line model is 5${\times}10^{-3}{\Omega}cm^{2}$ at 80K. RBS and differential Hall measurement data suggest that the above low resistance ohmic contact is ascribed to surface traps and increased gold diffusion rate.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.412-412
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• 2008

ENIG(Electroless Nickel Immersion Gold)is a surface treatment method that is used most widely at fine pitch's SMT and BGA packaging process. ENIG has good diffusion barrier of Ni against solder and good wettability due to Au finish. But when the discoloration occurred on the Au finish of ENIG, some key characteristics related to the quality and reliability of PCB such as bondability, solderability and electrical flowing of packaging process could be deteriorated. In this paper, we have performed the water dip test ($88^{\circ}C$ purified water) which accelerates the galvanic corrosion of Ni diffused from the Ni-P layer. That is, the excessive oxidation of the Ni layer could result in non-wetting of the solder because the flux may not be able to remove excessive oxides. Though Au discoloration have been reported to be caused by Ni oxides in many literature, it is still open to verify and discuss The microstructures and chemical compositions have been investigated using FE-SEM, TEM, FIB, EDS and XPS. As a result, authors have found that the Au discoloration in ENIG type is severely caused by the oxidation of the Ni and the mechanism of Au discoloration can be confirmed through the experiment result of water dip test.

• 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.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2010.05a
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• pp.82-82
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• 2010

표면실장 공법을 통해 CSP 패키지를 보드에 실장 하는데 있어 무연솔더 접합부의 신뢰성에 영향을 미치는 인자 중 가장 중요한 것은 접합부에 형성되는 IMC (Intermetallic compound, 금속간화합물)인 것으로 알려져 있다. 접합부의 칩 부분에는 솔더와 칩의 UBM (Under bump metalization)이 접합하여 IMC가 형성되나, 보드 부분에는 솔더와 보드의 UBM 뿐만 아니라 그 사이에 솔더 페이스트가 함께 접합되어 IMC가 형성된다. 본 연구에서는 패키지의 신뢰성 연구를 위해 솔더 페이스트의 유무 및 두께에 따른 무연 솔더 접합부의 미세조직의 변화를 분석하였다. 본 실험에서는 Sn-3.0(Wt.%)Ag-0.5Cu 조성과 본 연구진에 의해 개발된 Sn-Ag-Cu-In 조성의 직경 $450{\mu}m$ 솔더 볼을 사용하였으며, 솔더 페이스트는 상용 Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu (ALPHA OM-325)를 사용하였다. 칩은 ENIG (Electroless nickel immersion gold) finish pad가 형성된 CSP (Chip scale package)를, 보드는 OSP (Organic solderability preservative)/Cu finish pad가 형성된 것을 사용하였다. 실험 방법은 보드를 솔더 페이스트 없이 플라즈마 처리 한 것, 솔더 페이스트를 $30{\mu}m$ 두께로 인쇄한 것, $120{\mu}m$의 두께로 인쇄한 것, 이렇게 3가지 조건으로 준비한 후, 솔더 볼이 bumping된 칩을 mounting하여, $242^{\circ}C$의 peak 온도 조건의 oven(1809UL, Heller)에서 reflow를 실시하여 패키지를 형성하였다. 이후 시편은 정밀 연마한 후, OM(Optical Microscopic)과 SEM(scanning electron microscope) 및 EDS(energy dispersive spectroscope)를 사용하여 솔더 접합부 IMC의 미세조직을 관찰, 분석하였다.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.81-88
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• 2010

Thermal annealing and electromigration test were performed at $150^{\circ}C$ and $4{\times}10^3\;A/cm^2$ conditions in order to investigate the effect of PCB surface finishs on the growth kinetics of intermetallic compound (IMC) in Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu solder bump. The surface finishes of the electrodes of printed circuit board (PCB) were organic solderability preservation (OSP), immersion Sn, and electroless Ni/immersion gold (ENIG). During thermal annealing, the OSP and immersion Sn show similar IMC growth velocity, while ENIG surface finish had much slower IMC growth velocity. Applying electric current accelerated IMC growth velocity and showed polarity effect due to directional electron flow.

• 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.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.64-69
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• 2012

Sn-Bi eutectic alloy has been widely used as one of the key solder materials for step soldering at low temperature. The Sn-58Bi solder paste containing chloride flux was adopted to compare with that using the chloride-free flux. The paste was applied on the electroless nickel-immersion gold (ENIG) surface finish by stencil printing, and the reflow process was then performed at $170^{\circ}C$ for 10 min. After reflow, the solder joints were aged at $125^{\circ}C$ for 100, 200, 300, 500 and 1000 h in an oven. The interfacial microstructures were obtained by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the composition of intermetallic compounds (IMCs) was analyzed using energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS). Two different IMC layers, consisting of $Ni_3Sn_4$ and relatively very thin Sn-Bi-Ni-Au were formed at the solder/surface finish interface, and their thickness increased with increasing aging time. The wettability of solder joints was investigated by wetting balance test. The mechanical property of each aging solder joint was evaluated by the ball shear test in accordance with JEDEC standard (JESD22-B117A). The results show that the highest shear force was measured when the aging time was 100 h, and the fracture mode changed from ductile fracture to brittle fracture with increasing aging time. On the other hand, the chloride flux in the solder paste did not affect the shear force and fracture mode of the solder joints.