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Ag₃Sn Compounds Coarsening Behaviors in Micro-Joints
Ye Tian1,2, Ning Ren3, Zhihua Zhao4
1School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou 450052, China. yetian27@163.com.
Materials (Basel, Switzerland)
|December 15, 2018
Summary
Thermal shock testing accelerates the coarsening of silver-tin (Ag₃Sn) intermetallic compounds in solder joints. Strain-enhanced aging significantly drives this accelerated growth, with necking coalescence being the primary coarsening mechanism.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Reliability Engineering
- Microstructure Analysis
Background:
- Intermetallic compounds (IMCs) are critical for micro-joint reliability as solder joints scale down.
- Understanding IMC microstructure evolution in micro-joints is essential for predicting solder joint reliability.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the coarsening behavior of Ag₃Sn compounds in Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu (SAC305) micro-joints under thermal shock (TS).
- To determine the influence of TS on Ag₃Sn coarsening compared to thermal aging.
- To elucidate the mechanisms and kinetics of Ag₃Sn microstructure evolution during TS cycling.
Main Methods:
- Utilized thermal shock (TS) tests on SAC305 micro-joints of flip chip assemblies.
- Observed and analyzed Ag₃Sn microstructure evolutions.
- Employed simulative analysis and experimental validation.
- Established a kinetic model for Ag₃Sn coarsening.
Main Results:
- Ag₃Sn compounds grew and coarsened rapidly with increasing TS cycles.
- TS significantly accelerated coarsening compared to thermal aging, primarily due to strain-enhanced aging.
- Two co-existing coarsening modes, Ostwald ripening and necking coalescence, were identified.
- The kinetic model yielded a growth exponent (n) of 1.70.
- Necking coalescence was confirmed as the predominant coarsening mode.
Conclusions:
- Thermal shock testing accelerates Ag₃Sn coarsening in SAC305 micro-joints through strain-enhanced aging.
- Necking coalescence is the dominant mechanism driving Ag₃Sn coarsening under TS conditions.
- The developed kinetic model provides insights into the coarsening behavior for improved reliability predictions.
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