• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.23 no.8
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• pp.611-616
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• 2010

This study investigated the characteristics of fracture behavior and mode on solder joints before and after thermal shock test for automotive application component using Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu solder, which has a outstanding property as lead-free solder. The shear strength was decreased with thermal cycle number, after 432 cycles of thermal shock test. In addition, fracture mode was verified to ductile, brittle fracture and base materials fracture such as different kind fractured mode using SEM and EDS. Before the thermal shock, the fractured mode was found to typical ductile fracture in solder layer. After thermal shock test, especially, Ag was found on fractured portion as roughest surface. Moreover, it occurred delamination between a PCB and a Cu land. Before thermal shock test, most of fractured mode in solder layer has dimples by ductile fracture. However, after thermal shock test, the fractured mode became a combination of ductile and brittle fracture, and it also could find that the fracture behavior varied including delamination between substrate and Cu land.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.29-35
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• 2003

The Sn-based lead-free solders with varying microstructure were prepared by changing the cooling rate from the melt. Bulky as-cast SnAg, SnAgCu, and SnCu, alloys were cold rolled and thermally stabilized before the creep tests so that there would be very small amount of microstructural change during creep (TS), and thin specimens were water quenched from the melt (WQ) to simulate microstructures of the as-reflowed solders in flip chips. Cooling rates of the WQ specimens were 140∼150 K/sec, and the resultant $\beta-Sn$ globule size was 5∼10 times smaller than that of the TS specimens. Subsequent creep tests showed that the minimum strain rate of TS specimens was about $10_2$ times higher than that of the WQ specimens. Fractographic analyses showed that creep rupture of the TS-SnAgCu specimens occurred by the nucleation of voids on the $Ag_3Sn$ Sn or $Cu_6Sn_5$ particles in the matrix, their subsequent growth by the power-law creep, and inter-linkage of microcracks to form macrocracks which led to the fast failure. On the other hand, no creep voids were found in the WQ specimens due to the mode III shear rupture coming from the thin specimens geometry.

• Proceedings of the International Microelectronics And Packaging Society Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.84-87
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• 2003

Since Pb-free solder alloys have been used extensively in microelectronic packaging industry, the interaction between UBM (Under Bump Metallurgy) and solder is a critical issue because IMC (Intermetallic Compound) at the interface is critical for the adhesion of mechanical and the electrical contact for flip chip bonding. IMC growth must be fast during the reflow process to form stable IMC. Too fast IMC growth, however, is undesirable because it causes the dewetting of UBM and the unstable mechanical stability of thick IMC. UP to now. Ni and Cu are the most popular UBMs because electroplating is lower cost process than thin film deposition in vacuum for Al/Ni(V)/Cu or phased Cr-Cu. The consumption rate and the growth rate of IMC on Ni are lower than those of Cu. In contrast, the wetting of solder bumps on Cu is better than Ni. In addition, the residual stress of Cu is lower than that of Ni. Therefore, the alloy of Cu and Ni could be used as optimum UBM with both advantages of Ni and Cu. In this paper, the interfacial reactions of Sn-3.5Ag-0.7Cu solder on Ni-xCu alloy UBMs were investigated. The UBMs of Ni-Cu alloy were made on Si wafer. Thin Cr film and Cu film were used as adhesion layer and electroplating seed layer, respectively. And then, the solderable layer, Ni-Cu alloy, was deposited on the seed layer by electroplating. The UBM consumption rate and intermetallic growth on Ni-Cu alloy were studied as a function of time and Cu contents. And the IMCs between solder and UBM were analyzed with SEM, EDS, and TEM.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.50 no.10
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• pp.775-783
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• 2012

The effect of thermal annealing on the in-situ growth characteristics of intermetallics (IMCs) and the mechanical strength of Cu pillar/Sn-3.5Ag microbumps are systematically investigated. The $Cu_6Sn_5$ phase formed at the Cu/solder interface right after bonding and grew with increased annealing time, while the $Cu_3Sn$ phase formed at the $Cu/Cu_6Sn_5$ interface and grew with increased annealing time. IMC growth followed a linear relationship with the square root of the annealing time due to a diffusion-controlled mechanism. The shear strength measured by the die shear test monotonically increased with annealing time. It then changed the slope with further annealing, which correlated with the change in fracture modes from ductile to brittle at a critical transition time. This is ascribed not only to the increasing thickness of brittle IMCs but also to the decreasing thickness of the solder, as there exists a critical annealing time for a fracture mode transition in our thin solder-capped Cu pillar microbump structures.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.117-123
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• 2015

The need for drop simulations for board-leveled flip chips in micro-system packaging has been increasing. There have been many studies on flip chips with various solder ball compositions. However, studies on flip chips with Sn-1.0Ag-0.5Cu and Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu have rarely been attempted because of the unknown material properties. According to recent studies, drop simulations with these solder ball compositions have proven feasible. In this study, predictions of the impact lifetime by drop simulations are performed considering Cu and Cu/Ni UBMs using LS-DYNA to alter the design parameters of the flip chips, such as thickness of the flip chip and size of the solder ball. It was found that a smaller chip thickness, larger solder ball diameter, and using the Cu/Ni UBM can improve the drop lifetime of solder balls.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.207-208
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• 2009

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.12 no.4 s.37
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• pp.289-299
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• 2005

The ball shear force was investigated in terms of test parameters, i.e. displacement rate and probe height, with an experimental and non-linear finite element analysis for evaluation of the solder joint integrity in area array packages. The increase in the displacement rate and the decrease in the probe height led to the increase in the shear force. Excessive probe height could cause some detrimental effects on the test results such as unexpected high standard deviation and probe sliding from the solder ball surface. The low shear height conditions were favorable for assessing the mechanical integrity of the solder joints. The mechanical and electrical properties of the Sn-37Pb/Cu and Sn-3.5Ag/Cu BGA solder joints were also investigated with the number of reflows. The total thickness of the intermetallic compound (IMC) layers, consisting of Cu6Sn5 and Cu3Sn, was increased as a function of cubic root of reflow time. The shear force was increased up to 3 or 4 reflows, and then was decreased with the number of reflows. The fracture occurred along the bulk solder, in irrespective of the number of reflows. The electrical resistivity was increased with increasing the number of reflows.

• Proceedings of the International Microelectronics And Packaging Society Conference
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• 2004.02a
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• pp.37-59
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• 2004

In the case of Ni/Au finished pad on the package side, the solder joint of SnAgCu system can bring brittle fracture under impact load such as drop test. Therefore, it's difficult to prevent the brittle fracture of lead-free solder, by controlling Cu content. The failure locus existing on the interface between $(Ni,Cu)_3Sn_4\;and\;(Cu,Ni)_6Sn_5$ IMC layers must be changed to other site in order to avoid brittle fracture due to impact load. It was not found any clear evidence that there were two IMC layers exist. But it was strongly assumed these were two layers which have different Cu-Ni composition. From the above analysis it was assumed that Cu atom in the solder alloy or substrate seemed to affect IMC composition and cause to IMC brittle fracture.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.91-95
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• 2007

Electromigration characteristics of Sn-3.5Ag flip chip solder bump were analyzed using flip chip packages which consisted of Si chip substrate and electroplated Cu under bump metallurgy. Electromigration test temperatures and current densities peformed were $140{\sim}175^{\circ}C\;and\;6{\sim}9{\times}10^4A/cm^2$ respectively. Mean time to failure of solder bump decreased as the temperature and current density increased. The activation energy and current density exponent were found to be 1.63 eV and 4.6, respectively. The activation energy and current density exponent have very high value because of high Joule heating. Evolution of Cu-Sn intermetallic compound was also investigated with respect to current density conditions.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2001.05a
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• pp.289-291
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• 2001