• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.47 no.8
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• pp.500-507
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• 2009

Pb-free solder has recently been used in electronics in efforts to meet environmental regulations, and a number of Pb-free solder alloy choices beyond the near-eutectic SnAgCu solder are now available. With increased demand for thin and portable electronics, the high cost of alloys containing significant amounts of silver and their poor mechanical shock performance have spurred the development of low Ag SnAgCu solder, which provides improved mechanical performance at a reasonable cost. Although low Ag SnAgCu solder exhibits significantly higher fracture resistance under high-strain rates, little thermal fatigue data exist for this solder. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate thermal fatigue reliability of low Ag SnAgCu solder under variation of thermal stress in order to allow its implementation in electronic products with high reliability requirements. In this study, the reliability of Sn0.3Ag0.7Cu(SAC0307), a low Ag solder alloy, is discussed and compared with that of Sn3Ag0.5Cu(SAC305). Three sample types and six samples size are evaluated. Mechanical properties and microstructure of the solder joint are investigated under thermal shock cycles. It was observed that the mechanical strength of SAC0307 dropped slightly with thermal cycling relative to that of SAC305. This reveals that the failure mode of SAC0307 is different from that SAC305 under this critical condition.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Machine Tool Engineers
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.151-156
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• 2007

In this paper, the creep characteristics of lead and lead-free solder joint were investigated using the QFP(Quad Flat Package) creep test. Two kind of solder pastes(Sn-3Ag-0.5Cu, Sn-0.2Sb-0.4Ag-37.4Pb) were applied to the QFP solder joints and each specimen was checked the external and internal failures(i.e., wetting failure, void, pin hole, poor-heel fillet) by digital microscope and X-ray inspection. The creep test was conducted at the temperatures of $100^{\circ}C$ and $130^{\circ}C$ under the load of 15$\sim$20% of average pull strength in solder joints. The creep characteristics of each solder joints were compared using the creep strain-time curve and creep strain rate-stress curves. Through the comparison, the Sn-3Ag-0.5Cu solder joints have higher creep resistance than that of Sn-0.3Sb-0.4Ag-37.4Pb. Also, the grain boundary sliding in the fracture surface and the necking of solder joint were observed by FE-SEM.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.402-407
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• 2007

In electronics manufacturing processes, soldering process has generally been used in surface mounting technology. Because of environmental restriction, lead free solders as like a SnAgCu ternary system are being used widely. After soldering process, the formation and growth of intermetalic compounds(IMCs) are formed in the interface between solder and Cu substrate as follows isothermal temperature and time. In this studies, therefore, we investigated the effects of the Cu substrate thickness on the IMC formation and growth of Sn-40Pb/Cu and Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu/Cu solder joints, respectively. The effect of the Cu thickness in PCB Cu pad and pure Cu plate was analyzed as measuring of thickness of each IMC. After solder was soldered on PCB and Cu plate which have different Cu thickness, we measured the IMC thickness in solder joints respectively. Also we compared with the effectiveness of Cu thickness on the IMC growth. From these results, we calculated the activation energy.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.86-88
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• 2003

The characteristic of induction heating solder bump(solder ball: Sn-37Pb, Sn-3.5Ag, Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu) has analyzed in this paper. The initial condition of induction heating depends on the time and current. The shape of lead-free solder bump is better than lead solder. The shear strength of lead solder bump has decreased with aging time. The average of shear strength of solder bump is about 10N, 11N, and 11N respectively. The lead-free solder bump's shear strength is better than lead solder and varies irregularly with aging time.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.598-603
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• 2005

To develope new lead-free solders with the melting temperature close to that of Sn-37Pb$(183^{\circ}C)$, Sn-0.7Cu-5Pb-1Ga, Sn-0.7Cu-5Pb-1Ag, Sn-0.7Cu-5Pb-5Bi-1Ag, and Sn-0.7Cu-SBi-1Ag alloys were composed by adding low-netting elements such as Ga, Bi, Pb, and Ag to Sn-0.7Cu. Then the melting temperatures, microstructures, wettability, and adhesion properties of these alloys were evaluated. DSC analysis showed that the melting temperature of Sn-0.7Cu-SPb-1Ga was $211^{\circ}C$, and those of other alloys was in the range of $192\~200^{\circ}C$. Microstructures of these alloys after heat-treatment at $150^{\circ}C$ for 24 hrs were basically composed of coarsely- grown $\beta-Sn$ grains, and $Cu_6Sn_5$ and $Ag_3Sn$ intermetallic precipitates. Sn-0.7Cu-5Pb-1Ga and Sn-0.7Cu-5Pb-5Bi-1Ag showed excellent wettability, while Sn-0.7Cu-5Bi-1Ag and Sn-0.7Cu-5Pb-5Bi-1Ag revealed good adhesion strength with the Cu substrates. Among 4 alloys, Sn-0.7Cu-5Pb-5Bi-1Ag with the lowest melting temperature $(192^{\circ}C)$ and relatively excellent wettability and adhesion strength was suggested to be the best candidate solder to replace Sn-37Pb.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.75-81
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• 2014

Usage of heavy metal element (Pb, Hg and Cd etc.) in electronic devices have been restricted due to the environmental banning of the European Union, such as WEEE and RoHS. Therefore, it is needed to develop the Pb-free solder plated ribbon in photovoltaic (PV) module. This study described that degradation characteristics of PV module under damp heat (DH, $85^{\circ}C$ and 85% R.H.) condition test for 1,000 h. Solar cell ribbons were utilized to hot dipping plate with Pb-free solder alloys. Two types of Pb-free solder plated ribbons, Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu (SAC305) and Sn-48Bi-2Ag, and an electroless Sn-40Pb solder hot dipping plated ribbon as a reference sample were prepared to evaluate degradation characteristics. To detect the degradation of PV module with the eutectic and Pb-free solder plated ribbons, I-V curve, electro-luminescence (EL) and cross-sectional SEM analysis were carried out. DH test results show that the reason of maximum power (Pm) drop was mainly due to the decrease fill factor (FF). It was attributed to the crack or oxidation of interface between the cell and the ribbon. Among PV modules with the eutectic and Pb-free solder plated ribbon, the PV module with SAC305 ribbon relatively showed higher stability after DH test than the case of PV module with Sn-40Pb and Sn-48Bi-2Ag solder plated ribbons.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.90-96
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• 2014

The conventional SnPb solders were widely used for several decades in the electronic packing system due to the superior mechanical properties such as low melting point, better wettavility and good mechanical fatigue. However, in recent years, owing to adverse effect on the human health and environment, conventional SnPb solders have been replaced by Lead-free solders. In this research, the shear punch(SP) test of Sn-4Ag-(Cu)/Ni pad was performed. Pb-free solder alloys which are the environmentally friendly of the electronic components were performed at $150^{\circ}C$ for 100hr~1000hr to artificial aging processing. In order to evaluate the mechanical properties of solder joints, the SP test was conducted at $30^{\circ}C$ and $50^{\circ}C$. As a result, the maximum shear strength of almost the whole specimens was decreased with the increase in aging time and temperature of SP test. The mechanical properties of Sn-4Ag-0.5Cu solder were most excellent in all Pb-free solder which were produced by the SP test at $30^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.13-19
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• 2018

The soldering property of Pb-containing solder(Sn-Pb) and Pb-free solders(Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu and Sn-1.0Ag-0.7Cu-1.6Bi-0.2In) for solar combiner box module was compared. The solar combiner box module was composed of voltage and current detecting modules, diode modules, and other modules. In this study, solder paste printability, printing shape inspection, solder joint property, X-ray inspection, and shear force measurements were conducted. For optimization of Pb-free soldering process, step 1 and 2 were divided. In the step 1 process, the printability of Pb-containing and Pb-free solder alloys were estimated by using printing inspector. Then, the relationship between void percentages and shear force has been estimated. Overall, the property of Pb-containing solder was better than two Pb-free solders. In the step 2 process, the property of reflow soldering for the Pb-free solders was evaluated with different reflow peak temperatures. As the peak temperature of the reflow process gradually increased, the void percentage decreased by 2 to 4%, but the shear force did not significantly depend on the reflow peak temperature by a deviation of about 0.5 kgf. Among different surface finishes on PCB, ENIG surface finish was better than OSP and Pb-free solder surface finishes in terms of shear force. In the thermal shock reliability test of the solar combiner box module with a Pb-free solder and OSP surface finish, the change rate of electrical property of the module was almost unchanged within a 0.3% range and the module had a relatively good electrical property after 500 thermal shock cycles.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.49-54
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• 2005

The effective charge number and the critical current density of electromigration in eutetic SnPb and Pb Free $(SnAg_{3.8}Cu_{0.7)$ flip chip solder bumps are studied. The effective charge number of electromigration in eutectic SnPb solder is obtained as 34 and the critical current density is $j=0.169{\times}({\delta}_{\sigma}/{\delta}_x})\;A/cm^2,\;where\;({\delta}_{\sigma}/{\delta}_x})$ is the electromigration-induced compressive stress gradient along the length of the line. While the effect of electromigration in Pb free solder is much smaller than that in eutectic SnPb, the product of diffusivity and effective charge number $DZ^{\ast}$ has been assumed as $6.62{\times}10^{-11}$. The critical length for electromigration are also discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.94-98
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• 2017

In the past few years, Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu (weight%) solder composition has been a representative material to electronic industries as a replacement of Pb-base solder alloy. Therefore, extensive studies on process and/or reliability related with the composition have been reported. However, recent rapid rise in Ag price has demanded solder compositions of low Ag content. In this study, Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu solder bar sample was fabricated by melting of Sn, Ag and Cu metal powders. Crystal structure and element concentration were analyzed by XRD, optical microscope, FE-SEM and EDS. The Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu solder sample was composed of ${\beta}$-Sn, ${\varepsilon}-Ag_3Sn$ and ${\eta}-Cu_6Sn_5$ phases.