Charles Goldsmith

Effect of Sn grain orientation on electromigration degradation mechanism in high Sn-based Pb-free solders

Electromigration induced damage strongly depends on Sn-grain orientation in Pb-free solders. Rapid depletion of intermetallic compounds and under bump metallurgy led to significant damages caused by the fast diffusion of Cu and Ni along the c axis of Sn crystals. When the c axis of Sn grain is not aligned with the current direction, electromigration (EM) damage is dominated by Sn self-diffusion, which takes longer to occur. This is a direct proof of the highly anisotropic diffusion behavior in Sn. Due to the presence of twin structures and stable Ag3Sn network, SnAg(Cu) solders are less susceptible to grain orientation effects and showed better EM performance than SnCu solders.

Ag 3 Sn plate formation in the solidification of near ternary eutectic Sn–Ag–Cu alloys

Near-ternary eutectic Sn–Ag–Cu alloys are leading candidates for Pb-free solders. These alloys have three solid phases: β–Sn, Ag 3 Sn, and Cu 6 Sn 5 . Starting from the fully liquid state in solidifying near-eutectic Sn–Ag–Cu alloys, the equilibrium eutectic transformation is kinetically inhibited. The Ag 3 Sn phase nucleates with minimal undercooling, but the β–Sn phase requires a typical undercooling of 15 to 30 °C for nucleation. Because of this disparity in the required undercooling for nucleation, large, platelike Ag 3 Sn structures can grow rapidly within the liquid phase, before the final solidification of the solder joints. At lower cooling rates, the large Ag 3 Sn plates can subtend the entire cross section of solder joints and can significantly influence the mechanical deformation behavior of the solder joints under thermomechanical fatigue conditions. In this paper, it is demonstrated that the Ag 3 Sn plate formation can be inhibited, an important factor in assuring the reliability of solder joints composed of these alloys.

The microstructure of Sn in near-eutectic Sn–Ag–Cu alloy solder joints and its role in thermomechanical fatigue

During the solidification of solder joints composed of near-eutectic Sn-Ag-Cu alloys, the Sn phase grows rapidly with a dendritic growth morphology, characterized by copious branching. Notwithstanding the complicated Sn growth topology, the Sn phase demonstrates single crystallographic orientations over large regions. Typical solder ball grid array joints, 900 μm in diameter, are composed of 1 to perhaps 12 different Sn crystallographic domains (Sn grains). When such solder joints are submitted to cyclic thermomechanical strains, the solder joint fatigue process is characterized by the recrystallization of the Sn phase in the higher deformation regions with the production of a much smaller grain size. Grain boundary sliding and diffusion in these recrystallized regions then leads to extensive grain boundary damage and results in fatigue crack initiation and growth along the recrystallized Sn grain boundaries.

Interfacial reaction studies on lead (Pb)-free solder alloys

Recently, the research and development activities for replacing Pb-containing solders with Pb-free solders have been intensified due to both competitive market pressures and environmental issues. As a result of these activities, a few promising candidate solder alloys have been identified, mainly, Sn-based alloys. A key issue affecting the integrity and reliability of solder joints is the interfacial reactions between a molten solder and surface finishes in the solder joint structures. In this paper, a fundamental study of the interfacial reactions between several Pb-free candidate solders and surface finishes commonly used in printed-circuit cards is reported. The Pb-free solders investigated include Sn-3.5 Ag, Sn-3.8 Ag-0.7 Cu, and Sn-3.5 Ag-3.0 Bi. The surface finishes investigated include Cu, Au/Ni(P), Au/Pd/Ni(P), and Au/Ni (electroplated). The reaction kinetics of the dissolution of surface finishes and intermetallic compound growth have been measured as a function of reflow temperature and time. The intermetallic compounds formed during reflow reactions have been identified by SEM with energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy.

Inhomogeneous strain states in sputter deposited tungsten thin films

The results of an x-ray diffraction study of dc-magnetron sputtered tungsten thin films are reported. It is shown that the phase transformation from the β to α W can cause multilayered single-phase films where the layers have very different stress states even if the films are in the 500 nm thickness range.

Evaluation of thermal fatigue life and failure mechanisms of Sn-Ag-Cu solder joints with reduced Ag contents

The electronic industry is making substantial progress toward a full transition to Pb-free soldering in the near future. At present, the leading candidate Pb-free solders are near-ternary eutectic Sn-Ag-Cu alloys. The electronic industry has begun to study both the processing behaviors and the thermomechanical fatigue properties of these alloys in detail in order to understand their applicability in context of current electronic card reliability requirements. In recent publications, the solidification behavior of the near-ternary eutectic Sn-Ag-Cu alloys has been reported in terms of the formation of large Ag/sub 3/Sn plates and their effects on mechanical properties of Pb-free solder joints. It was also demonstrated that reducing Ag content in the near-ternary eutectic Sn-Ag-Cu alloys was very effective in controlling the formation of large Ag/sub 3/Sn plates and thereby reducing the reliability risk factor of solder joints. In this study, thermal fatigue behavior of CBGA (ceramic ball grid array) solder joints was investigated in terms of Ag content, cooling rate, and thermal cycling conditions. Extensive failure analysis was conducted with thermal-cycled solder joints to understand the failure mechanisms operating during the accelerated thermal cycling (ATC) tests.

Comparison of electromigration performance for Pb-free solders and surface finishes with Ni UBM

A series of electromigration (EM) experiments were undertaken to evaluate the time to failure performance of solder joints comprised of Sn-Ag and Sn-Cu alloys in combination with three solderable surface finishes, Cu, Ni-Au and Ni-Cu. The opposing pad structure in the solder joints was the same in all experiments and was comprised of a layered structure, simulating Ni based under - bump - metallurgies (UBM) for controlled collapse chip connection (C4). As anticipated the Sn grain size was large with the typical solder joint containing only a few grains. In all experiments, reported here, the electron current exited the pad with the surface finish under evaluation and passed into the solder. Two failure modes were identified. The manifested failure mode depended on the orientation of the c-axis of the larger Sn grains in the solder joint with respect to the applied current direction. When the c-axis is not closely aligned with the current direction, cavitation at solder-IMC interface leads to electrical failure. A more rapid failure mode occurred when the c-axis was closely aligned with the current direction. With this alignment the interfacial IMC structures were swept away by rapid diffusive processes from the pad surface and the pad material was quickly consumed. Interfacial void formation leads to rapid failure in this mode. The Sn-Ag solder appeared to demonstrate greater microstructural stability. But, clearly the best EM performance was seen with the addition of significant levels of Cu to the Sn-Ag alloy. This alloy modification showed the best EM lifetime in combination with a Ni pad structure.

Effect of Zn doping on SnAg solder microstructure and electromigration stability

A comprehensive study on the effect of Zn-doped SnAg solders on microstructure and electromigration (EM) is reported. Minor Zn doping, about 0.6 wt %, in a SnAg solder alloy is found to be effective in stabilizing solder microstructure and improving EM reliability. Early EM failure modes in Zn-doped solders are significantly suppressed, resulting in a longer EM lifetime with tight distributions. Analyses using optical microscopy, scanning electron microcopy, transmission electron microscopy, electron microprobe analysis, and electron backscattering diffraction were conducted. Zn addition in SnAg leads to significant changes in solder microstructure, grain structure, and thermal and EM stabilities. The strong reaction of Zn with Cu atoms effectively slowed down the Cu diffusion in β-Sn grains, thus improved the EM stability of Sn-rich solder joints.

Finite size effects in stress analysis of interconnect structures

Conventional formulations of thermal stress evolution in interconnect structures usually ignore the interface integrity between the various levels. In this letter we present thermal and residual stress versus temperature data from simple copper thin-film structures on silicon. The results indicate that interconnection models which assume fully elastic behavior and perfectly bonded interfaces may yield inaccurate predictions of the thermo-mechanical response for feature sizes smaller than 10μm.

Blech effect in Pb-free flip chip solder joint

The Blech effect in electromigration is studied in flip-chip-like Pb-free solder joint structures. The results from two different studies indicate that the Blech limit (J×L)c (current density times solder length) is close to 30 A/cm in Sn1.8 Ag solders, where the dominating degradation mechanism is Sn self-diffusion. For Sn0.7 Cu solders, where the failure is driven by interstitial diffusion, the Blech effect is not observed. When Blech product is approaching the Blech limit, a steady increase in resistance is replaced by a near-zero resistance change. This saturation in resistance shift significantly extends the electromigration lifetime in SnAg solders.