The properties of 18 K red gold solder alloys were investigated by changing the content of In up to 10.0 wt% in order to replace the hazardous Cd element. Cupellation and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) were used to check the composition of each alloy, and FE-SEM and UV-VIS-NIR-Colormeter were employed for microstructure and color characterization. The melting temperature, hardness, and wetting angle of the samples were determined by TGA-DTA, the Vickers hardness tester, and the Wetting angle tester. The cupellation result confirmed that all the samples had 18K above 75.0wt%-Au. EDS results showed that Cu and In elements were alloyed with the intended composition without segregation. The microstructure results showed that the amount of In increased, and the grain size became smaller. The color analysis revealed that the proposed solders up to 10.0 wt% In showed a color similar to the reference 18 K substrate like the 10.0 wt% Cd solder with a color difference of less than 7.50. TGA-DTA results confirmed that when more than 5.0 wt% of In was added, the melting temperature decreased enough for the soldering process. The Vickers hardness result revealed that more than 5.0 wt% In solder alloys had greater hardness than 10.0 wt% Cd solder, which suggested that it was more favorable in making a wire type solder. Moreover, all the In solders showed a lower wetting angle than the 10.0 wt% Cd solder. Our results suggested that the In alloyed 18 K red gold solders might replace the conventional 10.0 wt% Cd solder with appropriate properties for red gold jewelry soldering.

Solder paste is widely used as a conductive adhesive in the electronics industry. In this paper, nano and microsized mixed lead-free solder powder (Sn-Ag-Cu) is used to manufacture solder paste. The purpose of this paper is to improve the storage stability using different types of solvents that are used in fabricating the solder paste. If a solvent of sole acetate is used, the nano sized solder powder and organic acid react and form a Sn-Ag-Cu malonate. These formed malonates create fatty acid soaps. The fatty acid soaps absorb the solvents and while the viscosity of the solder paste rises, the storage stability and reliability decrease. When ethylene glycol, a dihydric alcohol, is used the fatty acid soaps and ethylene glycol react, preventing the further creation of the fatty acid soaps. The prevention of gelation results in an improvement in the solder paste storage ability.

This study has assessed mechanical bonding strength of lead-free solder joint. Assessment methods was performing long-term reliability test about thermal shock, thermal life and high temperature & high humidity. Based on the results of analyzing mean values that was obtained from repetion of 5 times according to each conditions, reduction of mechanical bonding strength of each tests was confirmed. When it comes to HB chip, the order of high deviation rate was shown thermal shock, high temperature & humidity and thermal life. And the higher deviation rate of R0 is high temperature & humidity, thermal life and thermal shock. The order of high deviation rate of C1 chip is high temperature & humidity, thermal shock and thermal life. Related to this result of experiment, the most stable error range of mechanical bonding strength is established. From now on optimized quantity of solder and shape of solder-joint is needed by establishing a test method which can make error range of mechanical bonding strength minimize.

The effects of printed circuit board electroless nickel immersion gold (ENIG) and organic solderability preservative (OSP) surface finishes on the electromigration reliability and shear strength of Sn-3.5Ag Pb-free solder bump were systematically investigated. In-situ annealing tests were performed in a scanning electron microscope chamber at 130, 150, and 170˚C in order to investigate the growth kinetics of intermetallic compound (IMC). Electromigration lifetime and failure modes were investigated at 150˚C and 1.5×105A/cm2, while ball shear tests and failure mode analysis were conducted under the high-speed conditions from 10 mm/s to 3000 mm/s. The activation energy of ENIG and OSP surface finishes during annealing were evaluated as 0.84 eV and 0.94 eV, respectively. The solder bumps with ENIG surface finish showed longer electromigration lifetime than OSP surface finish. Shear strengths between ENIG and OSP were similar, and the shear energies decreased with increasing shear speed. Failure analysis showed that electrical and mechanical reliabilities were very closely related to the interfacial IMC stabilities.

In semiconductor manufacturing, the circuit integrity of packaged BGA devices is tested by measuring electrical resistance using test sockets. Test sockets have been reported to often fail earlier than the expected life-time due to high contact resistance. This has been attributed to the formation of Sn oxide films on the Au coating layer of the probe pins loaded on the socket. Similar to contact failure, and known as "fretting", this process widely occurs between two conductive surfaces due to the continual rupture and accumulation of oxide films. However, the failure mechanism at the probe pin differs from fretting. In this study, the microstructural processes and formation mechanisms of Sn oxide films developed on the probe pin surface were investigated. Failure analysis was conducted mainly by FIB-FESEM observations, along with EDX, AES, and XRD analyses. Soft and fresh Sn was found to be transferred repeatedly from the solder bump to the Au surface of the probe pins; it was then instantly oxidized to SnO. The SnO2 phase is a more stable natural oxide, but SnO has been proved to grow on Sn thin film at low temperature (< 150˚C). Further oxidation to SnO2 is thought to be limited to 30%. The SnO film grew layer by layer up to 571 nm after testing of 50,500 cycles (1 nm/100 cycle). This resulted in the increase of contact resistance and thus of signal delay between the probe pin and the solder bump.

With an increased production of Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) in electronic equipment, the consumption of solder alloys is growing globally. Recently, increasing importance of recycling solder scrap has been recognized. Generally, solder scrap contains many impurities such as plastics and other metals. Hazardous components must be eliminated for recycling solder scrap. The present work studied pretreatment for reuse of solder scrap alloys. An experiment was conducted to enhance the cleanliness of solder scrap melt and eliminate impurities, especially lead. Physical separation with sieving and magnetic force was made along with pyrometallurgical methods. A small decrease in lead concentration was found by high temperature treatment of solder scrap melt. The impurities were removed by filtration of the solder scrap melt, which resulted in improvement of the melt cleanliness. A very low concentration of lead was achieved by a zone melting treatment with repeated passage. This study reports on a pretreatment process for the reuse of solder scrap that is lead free.

In this study, we optimized Pb-free Sn/Ni plating thickness and conditions were optimized to counteract the environmental regulations, such as RoHS and ELV(End-of Life Vehicles). The B10 life verification method was also suggested to have been successful when used with the accelerated life test(ALT) for assessing Pb-free solder joint life of piezoelectric (PZT) ceramic resonator. In order to evaluate the solder joint life, a modified Norris-Landzberg equation and a Coffin-Manson equation were utilized. Test vehicles that were composed of 2520 PZT ceramic resonator on FR-4 PCB with Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu for ALT were manufactured as well. Thermal shock test was conducted with 1,500 cycles from (-40±2)˚C to (120±2)˚C, and 30 minutes dwell time at each temperature, respectively. It was discovered that the thermal shock test is a very useful method in introducing the CTE mismatch caused by thermo-mechanical stress at the solder joints. The resonance frequency of test components was measured and observed the microsection views were also observed to confirm the crack generation of the solder joints.

The micro-structural changes, strength characteristics, and micro-fractural behaviors at the joint interface between a Sn-4.0wt%Ag-0.5wt%Cu solder ball and UBM treated by isothermal aging are reported. From the reflow process for the joint interface, a small amount of intermetallic compound was formed. With an increase in the isothermal aging time, the type and amount of the intermetallic compound changed. The interface without an isothermal treatment showed a ductile fracture. However, with an increase in the aging time, a brittle fracture occurred on the interface due mainly to the increase in the size of the intermetallic compounds and voids. As a result, a drastic degradation in the shear strength was observed. From a microshear test by a scanning electron microscope, the generation of micro-cracks was initiated from the voids at the joint interface. They propagated along the same interface, resulting in coalescence with neighboring cracks into larger cracks. With an increase in the aging time, the generation of the micro-structural cracks was enhanced and the degree of propagation also accelerated.

According to progress rapidly digitalization, networked and mobilization of electronics industry, there are demands for being smaller, thinner, more light, and more efficient complex functions of electronic devices which are wireless devices, semi-conductors, packages and mobile devices. Therefore, the solder resist on a printed circuit board have been required with the high resolution and the eco-friendly materials in the surface treatments such as high heating process and coating process with electrolysis. In this study, the photoinitiator initiator and monomers of the solder resist were prepared with their contents for reducing the occurrence of the under-cut. We investigated the sample surface by UV/VIS spectrometer, FT-IR, OM after HASL and ENIG process. From our results, it is possible to get a high adhesion of resist with optimal contents between the photoinitiator initiator and monomers after surface treatments.

We developed the copper core ball electroplated with Sn-Ag-Cu of the eutectic composition which used mostly as Pb free solder ball with high reliability. In order to search for the practicality of this developed copper core ball, the evaluation was executed by measuring the initial joint strength of the sample mounted on the substrate and reflowed and by measuring the joint strength of the sample after the high temperature leaving test and the constant temperature and the humidity leaving test. This evaluation was compered with those of the usual other copper core balls electroplated with (Sn,Sn-Ag,Sn-Cu,Sn-Bi) and the Sn-Ag-Cu solder ball.