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Performance of 96.5Sn–3Ag–0.5Cu/fullerene composite solder under isothermal ageing and high-current stressing

Guang Chen (Department of Materials Science, Zhejiang Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Hangzhou, China)
Xinzhan Cui (Henan Provincial Conservation Center, Zhengzhou, China)
Yaofeng Wu (School of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, Ningbo Institute of Technology, Zhejiang University, Ningbo, China)
Wei Li (School of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, Ningbo Institute of Technology, Zhejiang University, Ningbo, China)
Fengshun Wu (State Key Laboratory of Materials Processing and Die and Mould Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China)

Soldering & Surface Mount Technology

ISSN: 0954-0911

Article publication date: 11 June 2020

Issue publication date: 4 January 2021

117

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of fullerene (FNS) reinforcements on the microstructure and mechanical properties of 96.5Sn3Ag0.5Cu (SAC305) lead-free solder joints under isothermal ageing and electrical-migration (EM) stressing.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, SAC305 solder alloy doped with 0.1 Wt.% FNS was prepared via the powder metallurgy method. A sandwich-like sample and a U-shaped sample were designed and prepared to conduct an isothermal ageing test and an EM test. The isothermal ageing test was implemented under vacuum atmosphere at 150°C, whereas the EM experiment was carried out with a current density of 1.5 × 104 A/cm2. The microstructural and mechanical evolutions of both plain and composite solder joints after thermal ageing and EM stressing were comparatively studied.

Findings

A growth of Ag3Sn intermetallic compounds (IMCs) in solder matrix and Cu-Sn interfacial IMCs in composite solder joints was notably suppressed under isothermal ageing condition, whereas the hardness and shear strength of composite solder joints significantly outperformed those of non-reinforced solder joints throughout the ageing period. The EM experimental results showed that for the SAC305 solder, the interfacial IMCs formulated a protrusion at the anode after 360 h of EM stressing, whereas the surface of the composite solder joint was relatively smooth. During the stressing period, the interfacial IMC on the anode side of the plain SAC305 solder showed a continuous increasing trend, whereas the IMC at the cathode presented a decreasing trend for its thickness as the stressing time increased; after 360 h of stressing, some cracks and voids had formed on the cathode side. For the SAC305/FNS composite solder, a continuous increase in the thickness of the interfacial IMC was found on both the anode and cathode sides; the growth rate of the interfacial IMC at the anode was higher than that at the cathode. The nanoindentation results showed that the hardness of the SAC305 solder joint presented a gradient distribution after EM stressing, whereas the hardness data showed a relatively homogeneous distribution in the SAC305/FNS solder joint.

Originality/value

The experimental results showed that the FNS reinforcement could effectively mitigate the failure risk in solder joints under isothermal ageing and high-current stressing. Specifically, the FNS particles in solder joints can work as a barrier to suppress the diffusion and migration of Sn and Cu atoms. In addition, the nanoidentation results also indicated that the addition of the FNS reinforcement was very helpful in maintaining the mechanical stability of the solder joint. These findings have provided a theoretical and experimental basis for the practical application of this novel composite solder with high-current densities.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (Grant NO. 61804135), Postdoctoral Science Foundation of China (Grant NO. 2019M652567), Postdoctoral scholarship of Zhejiang Province (Grand No.221623) and the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province of China (Grant NO. LQ17E050004). The authors would also like to thank the Analytical and Testing Centre at Zhejiang Huashuo Technology co., LTD for their analytical and testing services.

Citation

Chen, G., Cui, X., Wu, Y., Li, W. and Wu, F. (2021), "Performance of 96.5Sn–3Ag–0.5Cu/fullerene composite solder under isothermal ageing and high-current stressing", Soldering & Surface Mount Technology, Vol. 33 No. 1, pp. 35-46. https://doi.org/10.1108/SSMT-02-2020-0004

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited

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