For the fabrication of core-shell structure bimetallic lead-free solder balls, both the critical temperature (Tcr) for the phase separation of two immiscible liquid phases and the temperature coefficient of the interfacial tension between the two separated liquid phases are required. In order to obtain this information, the temperature dependence of the surface tension of 60%Bi-24%Cu-16%Sn(-REM) alloys was measured using the constrained drop method. The slope of the temperature dependence of the surface tension changed clearly at a critical temperature for the separation of two immiscible liquid phases. The critical temperature of the 60%Bi-24%Cu-16%Sn alloy was estimated to be 1097K. An addition of 0.05% Ce decreased the critical temperature to 1085K, whereas that of 0.05% La increased it to 1117K. It was found that the surface tension and its temperature coefficient of the 60%Bi-24%Cu-16%Sn alloy were slightly increased by the addition of 0.05% Ce and 0.05% La. In addition, additions of Ce and La increased the temperature coefficient of the interfacial tension.

A semi-empirical method to estimate the surface tension of molten alloys at different oxygen partialpressures is suggested in this study. The surface tension of molten Ag-Sn and Ag-Cu alloys were calculatedusing the Butler equation with the surface tension value of pure substance at a given oxygen partialpressure. The oxygen partial pressure ranges were 2.86×10-12－1.24×10-9Pa for the Ag-Sn system and2.27×10-11－5.68×10-4 Pa for the Ag-Cu system. In this calculation, the interactions of the adsorbed oxygenwith other metallic constituents were ignored. The calculated results of the Ag-Sn alloys were in reasonableaccordance with the experimental data within a difference of 8%. For the Ag-Cu alloy system at a higheroxygen partial pressure, the surface tension initially decreased but showed a minimum at XAg = 0.05 to increaseas the silver content increased. This behavior appears to be related to the oxygen adsorption and thecorresponding surface segregation of the constituent with a lower surface tension. Nevertheless, the calculatedresults of the Ag-Cu alloys with the present model were in good agreement with the experimental data withina difference of 10%.