High Temperature Lead-free Solder for Microelectronics

Published

June 1, 2001

Author(s)

Frank W. Gayle, G Becka, J Badgett, G Whitten, TG Y. Pan, A Grusd, B B. Bauer, R Lathrop, J Slattery, I Anderson, J Foley, D Napp, J D. Mather, C Olson

Abstract

This paper reports the result of a four-year industrial consortium effort to develop Pb-free solders for high temperature applications (up to 160 degrees c). Work included preliminary evaluation of 32 Sn-based alloys, a screening of the thermomechanical fatigue performance of the 13 most promising alloys, and a full manufacturability and fatigue testing of the 7 most promising of those alloys, namely Sn-3.5Ag, Sn-4Ag-1Cu, Sn-4Ag-0.5Cu, Sn-2.5Ag-0.8Cu-0.5Sb, SN-4.6Ag-1.6Cu-1Sb-1Bi,Sn-3.3Ag-1Cu-3.3Bi,Sn-3.5Ag-1.5In. Eight different components were used on the reliability test vechicle, and the alloyers were compared through Weibull analysis. In addition, the same seven experimental alloys were tested with BGA packages cycled up to 100 degrees C or 125 degrees C. All the Pb-free alloys performed well, but the Bi-containing alloys showed especially outstanding performance. In general, the ternary and higher alloys performed as well or better than the industry standard Sn-Ag eutectic, suggesting that solders other than the Sn-Ag eutectic should be considered for high reliability, high temperature applications.

Citation

Jom-Journal of the Minerals Metals & Materials Society

Volume

53

Issue

No. 6

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

high temperature applications, Pb-free alloys, Sn-based alloys

Citation

Gayle, F. , Becka, G. , Badgett, J. , Whitten, G. , Pan, T. , Grusd, A. , Bauer, B. , Lathrop, R. , Slattery, J. , Anderson, I. , Foley, J. , Napp, D. , Mather, J. and Olson, C. (2001), High Temperature Lead-free Solder for Microelectronics, Jom-Journal of the Minerals Metals & Materials Society (Accessed October 27, 2025)