• 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 International Microelectronics And Packaging Society Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.57-57
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• 2000

Brazing characteristics of the LTCC(Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramics)/ Kovar(Fe-Ni-Co alloy) was investigated. Kovar is one of the typical material for the lid of MCM and packages. In case of alumina package, Brazing process is done by higher temperature profile than 800 $^{\circ}C$ and Ag-Cu alloy. But, LTCC has sintering temperature near 850 $^{\circ}C$. So, it is difficult to use the same process as alumina brazing. The adhesion strength of the brazed part is affected by brazing alloy and metallization properties between conductor pattern and LTCC material. We investigated brazing characteristics of the LTCC/Kovar using various brazing alloys(Ag-Cu, Au-Sn) and process conditions. And, we examined the influence of the glass contents in conductor on the brazing characteristics of the LTCC/Kovar.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.39-46
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• 2003

Sn-Cu eutectic solder bump was fabricated by electroplating for flip chip and its characteristics were studied. A Si-wafer was used as a substrate and the UBM(Under Bump Metallization) of Al(400 nm)/Cu(300 nm)/Ni(400 nm)/Au(20 nm) was coated sequentially from the substrate to the top by an electron beam evaporator. The experimental results showed that the plating ratio of the Sn-Cu increased from 0.25 to 2.7 $\mu\textrm{m}$/min with the current density of 1 to 8 A/d$\m^2$. In this range of current density the plated Sn-Cu maintains its composition nearly constant level as Sn-0.9∼1.4 wt%/Cu. The solder bump of typical mushroom shape with its stem diameter of 120 $\mu\textrm{m}$ was formed through plating at 5 A/d$\m^2$ for 2 hrs. The mushroom bump changed its shape to the spherical type of 140 $\mu\textrm{m}$ diameter by air reflow at $260^{\circ}C$. The homogeneity of chemical composition for the solder bump was examined, and Sn content in the mushroom bump appears to be uneven. However, the Sn distributed more uniformly through an air reflow.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.88-97
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• 1996

The metallization is the key to determining cell costs, cell performance, and system reliability. Screen printing technology suffers from several limitations affecting mainly the front grid. The buried contact solar cell (BCSC) was specifically desinged to be compatible with low cost, mass production techniques and avoid the conventional metallization problem. By using electroless plating technique, we performed this metallization inexpensively and reliably. This paper presents the details of the optimization procedure of metallization schemes on laser grooved cell surfaces. Commercially available Ni, Cu and Ag plating solutions were applied for the cell metallization. The application of those solutions on the buried contact front metallization has resulted in an cell efficiency of 18.8%. The cell parameters are an open circuit voltage of 651 mV, short circuit current density of 37.1 mA/$\textrm{cm}^2$, and fill factor of 77.8 %. The efficiency of over 18 % was achieved in the above 90% of the batch.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.309-319
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• 1995

The substrate patterned with the dry film has the cavity which has the $90^{\circ}$ wall angle. Electroplating Cu on this patterned substrate has the differrent shape history with the electrochemical parameters. By potential theory model, the reason of the variation of the shape change with the these parameters was investigated. The shape history could be explained by the current flow and the correlated area effects. By embedding the Ni layer between the Cu layers, shape history with the time was obtained experimentally and the results was compared with the numerical analysis by BEM. The adhesive Cr-Cu film in TAB application was etched with the various condition. The best condition for the etchant of the Cr-Cu film was found.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.23 no.11
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• pp.661-665
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• 2013

We investigated the characteristics of electroless plated Cu films on screen printed Ag/Anodized Al substrate. Cu plating was attempted using neutral electroless plating processes to minimize damage of the anodized Al substrate; this method used sodium hypophosphite instead of formaldehyde as a reducing agent. The basic electroless solution consisted of $CuSO_4{\cdot}5H_2O$ as the main metal source, $NaH_2PO_2{\cdot}H_2O$ as the reducing agent, $C_6H_5Na_3O_7{\cdot}2H_2O$ and $NH_4Cl$ as the complex agents, and $NiSO_4{\cdot}6H_2O$ as the catalyser for the oxidation of the reducing agent, dissolved in deionized water. The pH of the Cu plating solutions was adjusted using $NH_4OH$. According to the variation of pH in the range of 6.5~8, the electroless plated Cu films were coated on screen printed Ag pattern/anodized Al/Al at $70^{\circ}C$. We investigated the surface morphology change of the Cu films using FE-SEM (Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy). The chemical composition of the Cu film was determined using XPS (X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy). The crystal structures of the Cu films were investigated using XRD (X-ray Diffraction). Using electroless plating at pH 7, the structures of the plated Cu-rich films were typical fcc-Cu; however, a slight Ni component was co-deposited. Finally, we found that the formation of Cu film plated selectively on PCB without any lithography is possible using a neutral electroless plating process.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.386-392
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• 2003

The electroplating process for a solder bump which can be applied for a flip chip was studied. Si-wafer was used for an experimental substrate, and the substrate were coated with UBM (Under Bump Metallization) of Al(400 nm)/Cu(300 nm)Ni(400 nm)/Au(20 nm) subsequently. The compositions of the bump were Sn-Cu and eutectic Sn-Pb, and characteristics of two bumps were compared. Experimental results showed that the electroplated thickness of the solders were increased with time, and the increasing rates were TEX>$0.45 <\mu\textrm{m}$/min for the Sn-Cu and $ 0.35\mu\textrm{m}$/min for the Sn-Pb. In the case of Sn-Cu, electroplating rate increased from 0.25 to $2.7\mu\textrm{m}$/min with increasing current density from 1 to 8.5 $A/dm^2$. In the case of Sn-Pb the rate increased until the current density became $4 A/dm^2$, and after that current density the rate maintains constant value of $0.62\mu\textrm{m}$/min. The electro plated bumps were air reflowed to form spherical bumps, and their bonded shear strengths were evaluated. The shear strength reached at the reflow time of 10 sec, and the strength was of 113 gf for Sn-Cu and 120 gf for Sn-Pb.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.13 no.1 s.38
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• pp.23-29
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• 2006

Ultrasonic soldering of Si-wafer to FR-4 PCB at ambient temperature was investigated. The UBM of Si-substrate was Cu/ Ni/ Al from top to bottom with thickness of $0.4{\mu}m,\;0.4{\mu}m$, and $0.3{\mu}m$ respectively. The pad on FR-4 PCB comprised of Au/ Ni/ Cu from top to bottom with thickness of $0.05{\mu}m,\;5{\mu}m$, and $18{\mu}m$ respectively. Sn-3.5wt%Ag foil rolled to $100{\mu}m$ was used for solder. The ultrasonic soldering time was varied from 0.5 s to 3.0 s and the ultrasonic power was 1,400 W. The experimental results show that a reliable bond by ultrasonic soldering at ambient temperature was obtained. The shear strength increased with soldering time up to a maximum of 65 N at 2.5 s. The strength decreased to 34 N at 3.0 s because cracks were generated along the intermetallic compound between Si-wafer and Sn-3.5wt%Ag solder. The Intermetallic compound produced by ultrasonic soldering between the Si-wafer and the solder was $(Cu,Ni)_{6}Sn_{5}$.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.1-7
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• 1999

We developed Fabrication process of embedded passive components in MCM-D substrate. The proposed MCM-D substrate is based on Cu/photosensitive BCB multilayer. The substrate used is Si wafer and Ti/cu metallization is used to form the interconnect layer. Interconnect layers are formed with 1000$\AA$ Ti/3000$\AA$ Cu by sputtering method and 3$\mu\textrm{m}$ Cu by electrical plating method. In order to form the vias in photosensitive BCB layer, the process of BCB and plasma etch using $C_2F_6$ gas were evaluated. The MCM-D substrate is composed of 5 dielectric layers and 4 interconnect layers. Embedded resistors are made with NiCr and implemented on the $2^{nd}$ dielectric layer. The sheet resistance of NiCr is controlled to be about 21 $\Omega$/sq at the thickness of 600$\AA$. The multi-turn sprial inductors are designed in coplanar fashion on the $4^{th}$ interconnect layer with an underpass from the center to outside using the lower $3^{rd}$ interconnect layer. Capacitors are designed and realized between $1^{st}$ interconnect layer and $2^{nd}$ interconnect layer. An important issue in capacitor is the accurate determination of the dielectric thickness. We use the 900$\AA$ thickness of PECVD silicon nitride film as dielectric. Capacitance per unit area is about 88nF/$\textrm {cm}^2$at the thickness of 900$\AA$. The advantage of this integration process is the compatibility with the conventional semiconductor process due to low temperature PECVD silicon nitride process and thermal evaporation NiCr process.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.77-85
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• 2004

To evaluate the effect of plasma cleaning on the soldering reliability the plasma cleaning using Ar-10vol%$H_2$ gas was applied on a UBM(Under Bump Metallization). The UBM consisted of Au/ Cu/ Ni/ Al layers which were deposited on a Si-wafer with 20 nm/ 4 $\mu\textrm{m}$/ 4 $\mu\textrm{m}$/ 0.4 $\mu\textrm{m}$ thickness respectively. Sn-3.5%Ag, Sn-3.5%Ag-0.7%Cu and Sn-37%Pb solder balls sized of 500 $\mu\textrm{m}$ in diameter were used. Solder balls on the UBM were plasma reflowed under Ar-10%$H_2$ plasma (with or without plasma cleaning). They were compared with air reflowed solder balls with flux. The spreading ratios of plasma reflowed solder with plasma cleaning was 20-40% higher than that of plasma reflowed solder without plasma cleaning. The shear strength of plasma reflowed solder with plasma cleaning was about 58-65MPa. It showed 60-80% higher than that of plasma reflowed solder without plasma cleaning and 15-35% higher than that of air reflowed solder. Thus it was believed that plasma cleaning for the UBM using Ar-10vol%$H_2$ gas was considerably effective for the improvement of the strength of solder ball.