High temperature aging study of intermetallic compound formation of Sn-3,5Ag and Sn-4.0Ag-0,5Cu solders on electroless Ni(P) metallization

Journal article, 2006

The Sn-3.5Ag and Sn-4.0Ag-0.5Cu solders on Au/electroless Ni(P) metallization exhibited different interfacial morphologies after high temperature storage (HTS) at 150 °C. Ni 3 Sn 4 intermetallic compounds (IMCs) were found in the Sn-Ag system, while for the Sn-Ag-Cu system the IMCs consisted of two kinds of interfacial reactions. For the Sn-3.5Ag solder, the Ni 3 Sn 4 IMC particles lost adhesion/contact to the electroless Ni(P) layer and clear gap was observed in the samples after high temperature storage (HTS) aging for 1000 h. In the Sn-4.0Ag-0.5Cu solder joint, both (Cu,Ni) 6 Sn 5 and (Ni,Cu) 3 Sn 4 compounds were observed after HTS aging. Since the difference in nucleation site and growth rate for kinds of IMCs, (Cu,Ni) 6 Sn 5 was observed at top and (Ni,Cu) 3 Sn 4 at bottom when the interfacial compound layer became thicker as a function of thermal aging. Some voids were found between the electroless Ni(P) interface and the Sn-Ag solder after 168 and 500 h of thermal aging, while the clear gap between the solder and the Ni layer existed after 1000 h aging. The formation mechanism for this gap could be the interconnection and growth of the voids. In the Sn-Ag-Cu system, voids were found inside the Sn-Ni-Cu ternary interfacial compounds after 500 and 1000 h. The formation mechanism for these voids was thought to be Kirkendall effect or etching process. The interfacial layer of Sn-Ag-Cu solder on electroless Ni(P) coating showed the better thermal stable than eutectic Sn-Ag solder. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.