• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.168-175
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• 2003

The purpose of solder plating on chip external electrode is to provide a proper solderability to chips on PCB's. The quantitative or qualitative analysis of solderability has been performed by destructive methods, reflow or flow. Evidently, the solderability tends to depend on the grain structure which is varied with additives. Research on the feasibility of employing electrochemical techniques to characterize the solderability of electroplated tin - lead, with respect to the additives, was non destructively performed. The deposit morphology and the polarization behavior of electrolytes containing proprietary additives were evaluated to investigate the soldering degradation. The plated panels from synthetic electrolyte were analyzed according to % Sn, plating thickness, deposit appearance, grain structure, solderability and cyclic voltammetry.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.450-455
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• 2002

Cu-cored Sn-Ag solder balls were fabricated by coating pure Sn and Ag on Cu balls. The melting behavior and the solderability of the BGA joint with the Ni/Au coated Cu pad were investigated and were compared with those of the commercial Sn-Ag and Sn-Ag-Cu balls. DSC analyses clarified the melting of Cu-cored solders to start at a rather low temperature, the eutectic temperature of Sn-Ag-Cu. It was ascribed to the diffusion of Cu and Ag into Sn plating during the heating process. After reflow soldering the microstructures of the solder and of the interfacial layer between the solder and the Cu pad were analyzed with SEM and EPMA. By EDX analysis, formation of a eutectic microstructure composing of $\beta$-Sn, Ag$_3$Sn, ad Cu$_{6}$Sn$_{5}$ phases was confirmed in the solder, and the η'-(Au, Co, Cu, Ni)$_{6}$Sn$_{5}$ reaction layer was found to form at the interface between the solder and the Cu pad. By conducting shear tests, it was found that the BGA joint using Cu-cored solder ball could prevent the degradation of joint strength during aging at 423K because of the slower growth me of η'-(Au, Co, Cu, Ni)$_{6}$Sn$_{5}$ reaction layer formed at the solder, pad interface. Furthermore, Cu-cored multi-component Sn-Ag-Bi balls were fabricated by sequentially coating the binary Sn-Ag and Sn-Bi solders on Cu balls. The reflow property of these solder balls was investigated. Melting of these solder balls was clarified to start at the almost same temperature as that of Sn-2Ag-0.75Cu-3Bi solder. A microstructure composing of (Sn), Ag$_3$Sn, Bi and Cu$_{6}$Sn$_{5}$ phases was found to form in the solder ball, and a reaction layer containing primarily η'-(Au, Co, Cu, Ni)$_{6}$Sn$_{5}$ was found at the interface with Ni/Au coated Cu pad after reflow soldering. By conducting shear test, it was found that the BGA joints using this Cu-core solder balls hardly degraded their joint shear strength during aging at 423K due to the slower growth rate of the η'-(Au, Cu, Ni)$_{6}$Sn$_{5}$ reaction layer at the solder/pad interface.he solder/pad interface.

• 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 Welding and Joining
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.1-6
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• 2017

The effect of metal turnover (MTO) of electroless Ni plating bath on the brittle fracture behavior of electroless nickel electroless palladium immersion gold (ENEPIG)/Sn-3.0wt%Ag-0.5wt%Cu(SAC305) solder joint was evaluated in this study. The MTOs of the electroless Ni for the ENEPIG surface finish were 0 and 3. As the MTO increased, the interfacial IMC thickness increased. The brittle fracture behavior of the ENEPIG/SAC305 solder joint was evaluated with high speed shear (HSS) test. The HSS strength decreased with increasing the MTO of the electroless Ni bath. The brittle fracture increased with increasing the shear speed of the HSS test. The percentage of the brittle fracture for the 3 MTO sample was much higher than that for the 0 MTO sample.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.73-79
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• 2003

With the variation of Ag concentration in bath, current density, duty cycle, additive and agitation for electroplating of Sn-Ag solder, the compositions and the morphologies of solder were studied. It was possible to controll Ag content in Sn-Ag solder by varying Ag concentration in bath and current density. The microstructure size of Sn-Ag solder decreased with increasing current density. Duty cycle of pulse electroplating and quantity of additive affected on Ag content of deposit and surface roughness. In this work eutectic Sn-Ag solder bumps with fine pitch of 30 $\mu\textrm{m}$ and height of 15 $\mu\textrm{m}$ was formed successfully. The Ag content of electrodeposited solder was confirmed by EDS and WDS analyses and the surface morphologies was analyzed by SEM and 3D surface analyzer.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.14 no.2 s.43
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• pp.49-57
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• 2007

Au-Sn solder alloy were deposited in multilayer and co-sputtered film by rf-magnetron sputter and the composition control and analysis were studied. For the alloy deposition condition, each components of Au or Sn were deposited separately. On the basis of pure Sn and Au deposition, the deposition condition for Au-Sn solder alloy were set up. As variables, the substrate temperature, the rf-power, and the thickness ratio were used for the optimum composition. For multilayer solder alloy, the roughness and the composition of solder alloy were controlled more accurately at the higher substrate temperature. In contrast, for co-sputtered solder, the substrate temperature influenced little to the composition, but the composition could be controlled easily by rf-power. In addition, the co-sputtered solder film mostly consisted of intermetallic compound, which formed during deposition. The compound were confirmed by XRD. Without flux during bonding of solder alloy film on leadframe, the adhesion strength were measured. The maximum shear stress was $330(N/mm^2)$ for multilayer solder with Au 10wt% and $460(N/mm^2)$ for co-sputtered solder with Au 5wt%.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.65-69
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• 2012

Environmental and health concerns over the lead have led to investigation of the alternative Pb-free solders to replace commonly used Pb-Sn solders in microelectronic packaging application. The leading candidates for lead-free solder alloys are presently the near eutectic Sn-Ag-Cu alloys. Therefore, extensive studies on reliability related with the composition have been reported. However, the insufficient drop property of the near eutectic Sn-Ag-Cu alloys has demanded solder compositions of low Ag content. In addition, the solder interconnections in automobile applications like a smart box require significantly improved vibration resistance. Therefore, this study investigated the effect of alloying elements (Ag, Bi, In) on the vibration fatigue strength. The vibration fatigue was conducted in 10~1000Hz frequency and 20Grms. The interface of the as-soldered cross section close to the Cu pad indicated the intermetallic compound ($Cu_6Sn_5$) regardless of solder composition. The type and thickness of IMC was not significantly changed after the vibration test. It indicates that no thermal activities occurred significantly during vibration. Furthermore, as a function of alloying composition, the vibration crack path was investigated with a focus on the IMCs. Vibration crack was initiated from the fillet surface of the heel for QFP parts and from the plating layer of chip parts. Regardless of the solder composition, the crack during a vibration test was propagated as same as that during a thermal fatigue test.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.51-56
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• 2014

The reliability of solder joint is significantly affected by the property of surface finish. This paper reports on a study of high speed shear energy and failure mode for Sn-4.0wt%Ag-0.5wt%Cu (SAC405) solder joints with the time of Pd activation. The nodule size of electroless Ni-P deposit increased with increasing the time of Pd activation. The roughness (Ra) of electroless Ni-P deposit decreased with increasing the time of Pd activation. Then, with $HNO_3$ vapor, the quasi-brittle and brittle mode of SAC405 solder joint decreased with increasing the time of Pd activation. This results indicate that the increase in the Pd activation time for Electroless Ni/ Electroless Pd/ Immersion Au (ENEPIG) surface finish play a critical role for improving the robustness of SAC405 solder joint.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.51-54
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• 2015

An electro-plating technology on a cured isotropic conductive pattern with a hybrid Cu paste composed of resin matrix, copper, and solder powders has been developed. In a conventional technology, Ag paste was used to perform a conductive pattern on a PCB or silicon substrate. From previous research, the electrical conductive mechanism and principle of the hybrid Cu paste were concisely investigated. The isotropic conductive pattern on the PCB substrate was performed using screen-printing technology. The optimum electro-plating condition was experimentally determined by processing parameters such as the metal content of the hybrid Cu paste, applied current density, and time for the electroplating in the plating bath. The surfaces and cross-sections were observed using optical and SEM photographs. In conclusion, the optimized processing conditions for Cu electro-plating technology on the conductive pattern were a current density of $40mA/cm^2$ and a plating time of 20min on the hybrid Cu paste with a metal content of 44 vol.%. More details of the mechanical properties and processing conditions will be investigated in further research.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.6 no.7
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• pp.700-708
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• 1996

Electroless plating technique was utilized to flip chip bonding to improve surface mount characteristics. Each step of plating procedure was studied in terms pf pH, plating temperature and plating time. Al patterned 4 inch Si wafers were used as substrstes and zincate was used as an activation solution. Heat treatment was carried out for all the specimens in the temperature range from room temperature to $400^{\circ}C$ for $30^{\circ}C$ minutes in a vacuum furnace. Homogeneous distribution of Zn particles of size was obtained by the zincate treatment with pH 13 ~ 13.5, solution concentration of 15 ~ 25% at room temperature. The plating rates for both Ni-P and Au electroless plating steps increased with increasing the plating temperature and pH. The main crystallization planes of the plated Au were found to be (111) a pH 7 and (200) and (111) at pH 9 independent of the annealing temperature.