• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.21-27
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• 2006

This study was focused on the evaluation of the thermo-mechanical board-level reliability of Pb-bearing and Pb-free surface mount assemblies. The composition of Pb-bearing solder was a typical Sn-37Pb and that of Pb-free solder used in this study was a representative Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu in mass %. Thermal shock test was chosen for the reliability evaluation of the solder joints. Typical $Cu_6Sn_5$ intermetallic compound (IMC) layer was formed between both solders and Cu lead frame at the as-reflowed state, while a layer of $Cu_3Sn$ was additionally formed between the $Cu_6Sn_5$ and Cu lead frame during the thermal shock testing. Thickness of the IMC layers increased with increasing thermal shock cycles, and this is very similar result with that of isothermal aging study of solder joints. Shear test of the multi layer ceramic capacitor(MLCC) joints was also performed to investigate the degradation of mechanical bonding strength of solder joints during the thermal shock testing. Failure mode of the joints after shear testing revealed that the degradation was mainly due to the excessive growth of the IMC layers during the thermal shock testing.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.1-8
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• 2018

In the soldering industry, a variety of lead-free solders have been developed as a part of restricting lead in electronic packaging. Sn-Ag-Cu (SAC) lead-free solder is regarded as one of the most superior candidates, owing to its low melting point and high solderability as well as the mechanical property. On the other hand, the mechanical property of SAC solder is directly influenced by intermetallic compounds (IMCs) in the solder joint. Although IMCs in SAC solder play an important role in bonding solder joints and impart strength to the surrounding solder matrix, a large amount of IMCs may cause poor strength, due to their brittle nature. In other words, the mechanical properties of SAC solder are of some concern because of the formation of large and brittle IMCs. As the IMCs grow, they may cause poor device performance, resulting in the failure of the electronic device. Therefore, new solder technologies which can control the IMC growth are necessary to address these issues satisfactorily. There are an advanced nanotechnology for microstructural refinement that lead to improve mechanical properties of solder alloys with nanoparticle additions, which are defined as nano-reinforced solders. These nano-reinforced solders increase the mechanical strength of the solder due to the dispersion hardening as well as solderability of the solder. This paper introduces the nano-reinforced solders, including its principles, types, and various properties.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.17-22
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• 2013

We investigated the optimum bonding conditions for thermo-compression bonding of electrodes between flexible printed circuit board(FPCB) and rigid printed circuit board(RPCB) with Sn-58Bi solder as interlayer. In order to figure out the optimum bonding conditions, peel test of FPCB/RPCB joint was conducted. The peel strength was affected by the bonding conditions, such as temperature and time. The fracture energies were calculated through F-x (Force-displacement) curve during peel test and the relationships between bonding conditions and fracture behaviors were investigated. The optimum condition for the thermo-compression bonding with Sn-58Bi solder was found to be temperature of $195^{\circ}C$ and time of 7 s.

• 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.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.19 no.11
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• pp.613-618
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• 2009

We designed new compositions for lead free and low temperature sealing glass frit of $ZnO-V_2O_5-P_2O_5$ system, which can be used for PDP (Plasma Display Panel) or other electronic devices. The $ZnO-V_2O_5-P_2O_5$ system can be used as a sealing material at temperatures even lower than 430$^{\circ}C$. This system, however, showed lower bonding strength with glass substrate compared to commercialized Pb based sealing materials. So, we added $TiO_2$ as a promoter for bonding strength. We examined the effect of $TiO_2$ addition on sealing behaviors of $ZnO-V_2O_5-P_2O_5$ glasses with the data for flow button, wetting angle, temporary & permanent residual stress of glass substrate, EPMA analysis of interface between sealing materials and glass substrate, and bonding strength. As a result, sealing characteristics of $ZnO-V_2O_5-P_2O_5$ system glasses were improved with $TiO_2$ addition, but showed a maximum value at 5 mol% $TiO_2$ addition. The reason for improved bonding characteristics was considered to be the chemical interaction between glass substrate and sealing glass, and structural densification of sealing glass itself.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.152-159
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• 2007

When the electronics are tested with thermal shock for Pb-free solder joint reliability, there are temperature conditions with use environment but number of cycles for test don't clearly exist. To obtain the long term reliability data, electronic companies have spent the cost and times. Therefore this studies show the test method and number of thermal shock cycles for evaluating the solder joint reliability of electronic components and also research bonding strength variation with formation and growth of intermetallic compounds (IMC). SMD (surface mount device) 3216 chip resistor and 44 pin QFP (quad flat package) was utilized for experiments and each components were soldered with Sn-40Pb and Sn-3.0 Ag-0.5 Cu solder on the FR-4 PCB(printed circuit board) using by reflow soldering process. To reliability evaluation, thermal shock test was conducted between $-40^{\circ}C\;and\;+125^{\circ}C$ for 2,000 cycles, 10 minute dwell time, respectively. Also we analyzed the IMCs of solder joint using by SEM and EDX. To compare with bonding strength, resistor and QFP were tested shear strength and $45^{\circ}$ lead pull strength, respectively. From these results, optimized number of cycles was proposed with variation of bonding strength under thermal shock.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.373-378
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• 2003

With increasing environmental concerns, application of lead-free solder and fluxless soldering process have been taken attention from the electronic packaging industry. Plasma treatment is one of the soldering methods for the fluxless soldering, and it can prevent environmental pollution cased by flux. On this study fluxless soldering process under $Ar-H_2$plasma using lead free solders such as Sn-3.5 wt%Ag, Sn-3.5 wt%Ag-0.7 wt%Cu and Sn-37%Pb for a reference was investigated. As the plasma reflow has higher soldering temperature than normal air reflow, the effects of UBM(Under Bump Metallization) thickness on the interfacial reaction and bonding strength can be critical. Experimental results showed in case of the thin UBM, Au(20 nm)/Cu(0.3 $\mu\textrm{m}$)/Ni(0.4 $\mu\textrm{m}$)/Al(0.4 $\mu\textrm{m}$), shear strength of the soldered joint was relatively low as 19-27㎫, and it's caused by the crack observed along the bonded interface. The crack was believed to be produced by the exhaustion of the thin UBM-layer due to the excessive reaction with solder under plasma. However, in case of thick UBM, Au(20 nm)/Cu(4 $\mu\textrm{m}$)/Ni(4 $\mu\textrm{m}$)/Al(0.4 $\mu\textrm{m}$), the bonded interface was sound without any crack and shear strength gives 32∼42㎫. Thus, by increasing UBM thickness in this study the shear strength can be improved to 50∼70%. Fluxed reflow soldering under hot air was also carried out for a reference, and the shear strength was 48∼52㎫. Consequently the fluxless soldering with plasma showed around 65∼80% as those of fluxed air reflow, and the possibility of the $Ar-H_2$ plasma reflow was evaluated.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.61-67
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• 2005

Since lead (Pb)-free solders for electronics have higher melting points than that of eutectic Sn-Pb solder, they need higher soldering temperatures. In order to decrease the soldering temperature we tried to coat Sn-Bi layer on $Sn-3.5\%Ag$ solder by electroplating, which applies the mechanism of transient liquid phase bonding to soldering. During heating Bi will diffuse into the $Sn-3.5\%Ag$ solder and this results in decreasing soldering temperature. As bonding samples, the 1608 capacitor electroplated with Sn, and PCB, its surface was finished with electroless-plated Ni/Au, were selected. The $Sn-95.7\%Bi$ coated Sn-3.5Ag was supplied as a solder between the capacitor and PCB land. The samples were reflowed at $220^{\circ}C$, which was lower than that of normal reflow temperature, $240\~250^{\circ}C$, for the Pb-free. As experimental result, the joint of $Sn-95.7\%Bi$ coated Sn-3.5Ag showed high shear strength. In the as-reflowed state, the shear strength of the coated solder showed 58.8N, whereas those of commercial ones were 37.2N (Sn-37Pb), 31.4N (Sn-3Ag-0.5Cu), and 40.2N (Sn-8Zn-3Bi). After thermal shock of 1000 cycles between $-40^{\circ}C$ and $+125^{\circ}C$, shear strength of the coated solder showed 56.8N, whereas the previous commercial solders were in the range of 32.3N and 45.1N. As the microstructures, in the solder $Ag_3Sn$ intermetallic compound (IMC), and along the bonded interface $Ni_3Sn_4$ IMC were observed.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.6-12
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• 2019

Bonding properties of epoxy-containing solder joints were investigated by a high temperature aging test. Specimens were prepared by bonding an R3216 standard chip resistor to an OSP-finished PCB by a reflow process with two basic types of solder (SAC305 & Sn58Bi) pastes and two epoxy-solder (SAC305+epoxy & Sn58Bi+epoxy) pastes. In all epoxy solder joints, an epoxy fillet was formed in the hardened epoxy, lying around the outer edge of the solder joint, between the chip and the Cu pad. In order to analyze the bonding characteristics of solder joints at high temperatures, a high-temperature aging test at $150^{\circ}C$ was carried out for 14 days (336 h). After aging, the intermetallic compound $Cu_6Sn_5$ was found to have formed in the solder joint on the Cu pad, and the shear stress on the conventional solder joint was reduced by a significant amount. The reason that the shear force did not decrease much, even though in epoxy solder, was thatbecause epoxy hardened at the outer edge of the supported solder joints. Using epoxy solder, strong bonding behavior can be ensured due to this resistance to shear force, even in metallurgical changes such as those where intermetallic compounds form at solder joints.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.311-316
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• 2001

This paper presents that the affecting factors to the solderability and initial reliability. It is the factor that the coefficient of thermal expansion between package and PCB(Printed Circuit Board), the quantity of solder paste and reflow condition, and Au thickness of the solder ball pad on polyimide tape. As the reflow soldering condition for 48 ${\mu}BGA$ is changed, it is estimated that the quantity of Au diffusion at eutectic Sn-Pb solder surface and initial bonding strength of eutectic Sn-Pb solder and lead free solder. It is the result that quantitative measurement of Au diffusion quantity is difficult, but the shear strength of eutectic Sn-Pb solder joint is 842 mN at first reflow and increases 879 mN at third reflow. The major failure mode in solder is judged solder fracture. So, Au diffusion quantity is more affected by reflow temperature than by the reflow times.