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Effect of Ni, Zn, Au, Sb and In on the Suppression of the Cu3Sn Phase in Sn-10 wt.%Cu Alloys

  • TMS2020 Microelectronic Packaging, Interconnect, and Pb-free Solder
  • Published:
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Abstract

Since manufacturing is transitioning into Pb-free solder development for electronic assembly and packaging, consumer demands for more compact electronics have increased the importance of reliability issues brought about by the increased density of circuitry. Therefore, the role of alloying elements that can be added to common Pb-free solders such as Sn-Cu or Sn-Ag-Cu alloys in enhancing the properties and performance of the solder becomes important. Microstructural analysis along with direct observation in situ synchrotron radiography were used to study the effect of Ni, Zn, Au, In and Sb on the development of phases in Sn-10 wt.%Cu (Sn-10Cu). It was found that adding Ni and Zn to a Sn-10Cu alloy had the greatest impact on the microstructure with the Cu3Sn phase completely absent after these additions were made. Additions of Au and In also resulted in a reduction in the amount of Cu3Sn; however, the effect was not as pronounced. Removing the Cu3Sn phase from Sn-Cu Pb-free solder alloys is a possible approach for the design of more desirable microstructures that translate to better performance in modern electronic packaging.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the University of Queensland (UQ)-Nihon Superior (NS) collaboration research project and ARC Linkage Project (LP14010048) and ARC Discovery Project (DP200101949). Real-time observation experiments were performed at SPring-8 BL20XU (2016B1319, 2019A1149 and 2019B1185). The observations in SPring-8 were supported by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (S) (No. 17H06155), JSPS, Japan. We also acknowledge travel funding (AS/IA191/14935) provided by the International Synchrotron Access Program (ISAP) managed by the Australian Synchrotron, part of ANSTO, and funded by the Australian Government. SEM imaging and EDS mapping were performed at the Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis (CMM), The University of Queensland. Syeda U. Mehreen is financially supported by an Australian Postgraduate Award (APA).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nihon Superior Centre for the Manufacture of Electronic Materials (NS CMEM), The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia

    Syeda U. Mehreen, Kazuhiro Nogita & Stuart D. McDonald

  2. School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia

    Syeda U. Mehreen, Kazuhiro Nogita, Stuart D. McDonald & David H. StJohn

  3. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan

    Hideyuki Yasuda

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  1. Syeda U. Mehreen
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Mehreen, S.U., Nogita, K., McDonald, S.D. et al. Effect of Ni, Zn, Au, Sb and In on the Suppression of the Cu3Sn Phase in Sn-10 wt.%Cu Alloys. J. Electron. Mater. 50, 881–892 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-020-08709-3

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