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In our previous work, a small amount of Al nanoparticles can improve the wettability and mechanical properties of SnAgCu lead-free solders. In this paper, creep properties of SnAgCu solder alloys containing 0.1 wt% Al nanoparticles were studied based on creep testing. It is found that with the addition of Al nanoparticles can enhance the creep resistance of SnAgCu solders. And the Garofalo-Arrhenius creep model was used to describe the creep behavior of SnAgCu and SnAgCu-0.1nano Al solder joints, the parameters were determined based on creep testing. And finite element analysis was utilized to represent the accumulated creep response and calculate the creep fatigue life of solder joints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the wettability of lead-free solders on substrates with fluxes was studied based on reflow process and Taguchi method. Effects of different control factors, including solder materials, fluxes, substrate materials and atmosphere on the wettability of the lead-free solder joints were examined and calculated. Moreover, the effect of rare earth Eu on the wetting of SnAgCu solder was investigated, the effect mechanism was analyzed too. The wettability optimal design in the lead-free solders system has the combination of the SnAgCu-0.04Eu solder, RMA flux, Au/Ni/Cu substrate, and vacuum atmosphere. Moreover, the flux is the most important factor among the control factors in the wettability system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we research the thermo-mechanical reliability of lead-free solder joints in WLCSP assembly subjected to an accelerated thermal cyclic loading based on finite element simulation and Taguchi method. Effects of different control factors, including solder materials, height of solder ball, chip thickness and substrates thickness on the reliability of the lead-free solder joints were examined and calculated. The corner solder joint is the most critical solder joints in the assembly, the top surface of the solder joint is the crack propagated location. The optimal design in the WLCSP assembly has the combination of the SnAgCuAl, height of solder ball at 0.25 mm, chip thickness at 0.6 mm, substrate thickness at 1.0 mm. Moreover, the solder materials is the most important factor among the control factors in the WLCSP assembly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the addition of Zn, Co and Fe, the microstructures and properties of SnAgCu solders can be improved obviously, the constitutive response of SnAgCu solder bearing 0.8%Zn, 0.8%Co and 0.8%Fe was studied under uniaxial tension. Anand model was used to represent the inelastic deformation behavior of the lead-free solders. The material parameters of the constitutive relations for SnAgCu(Zn,Co, Fe) solders were determined from separated constitutive relations and experimental results. Combining the model, finite element analysis (FEA) was used to study the thermally induced inelastic deformation and the stress-strain response of the solder joints in wafer-level chip scale packages (WLCSP) mounted on printed circuit boards (PCB). And it is found that the addition of Zn, Co and Fe can enhance the fatigue life of SnAgCu solder joint, the superiority can be found for the addition of Fe among the three elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] New lead-free solders were designed with different Yb. [•] The enhancement of properties of solders were analyzed. [•] Rare earth Yb can refine the microstructure of solders. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: With the addition of 0.03wt% rare earth Ce, in our previous works, the properties of SnAgCu solder were enhanced obviously. Based on the Garofalo–Arrhenius creep constitutive model, finite element method was used to simulate the stress–strain response during thermal cycle loading, and combined with the fatigue life prediction models, the fatigue life of SnAgCu/SnAgCuCe solder joints was calculated respectively, which can demonstrate the effect of the rare earth Ce on the fatigue life of SnAgCu solder joints. The results indicated that the maximum stress–strain can be found on the top surface of the corner solder joint, and the warpage of the PCB substrate occurred during thermal cycle loading. The trends obtained from modeling results have a good agreement with the experimental data reported in the literature for WLCSP devices. In addition, the stress–strain of SnAgCuCe solder joints is lower than that of SnAgCu solder joints. The thermal fatigue lives of solder joints calculated based on the creep model and creep strain energy density model show that the fatigue life of SnAgCuCe solder joints is higher than the SnAgCu solder joints. The fatigue life of SnAgCuCe solder joints can be enhanced significantly with the addition of Ce, is 30.2% higher than that of SnAgCu solder joints, which can be attributed to the CeSn3 particles formed resisting the motion of dislocation; moreover, the refinement of microstructure and the IMC sizes also contribute to the enhancement of fatigue life, which elucidates that SnAgCuCe solder can be utilized in electronic industry with high reliability replacing the SnAgCu solder. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Lead free solder alloys for electronic assembly is being driven by environmental and health concerns regarding toxicity of lead and, more importantly, by the perceived economic advantage of marketing “green” products. Of the currently available lead free solders, SnAg has the greatest potential. In this solder, the Ag3Sn compound is distributed in a eutectic network throughout the β-Sn matrix and these results represent mechanical strength. In order to further improve the microstructures and properties of SnAg-based alloys, alloying elements such as rare earth, Zn, In, P, Cu, Ni and particles such as ZrO2, POSS are selected to meet the requirement of high reliability of high-density electronics devices. For SnAg solder bearing rare earth (Ce and La), the creep-rupture life of solder joints can be remarkably increased up to four times more than that of the original SnAg solder joints at room temperature, meanwhile, rare earths can dramatically reduce the thickness of IMCs layer at solder/pad interfaces and also refine the microstructure of the alloy which results in the enhancement of mechanical properties of the SnAg solder. Moreover, the addition of ZrO2 nanoparticles significantly refined the size of Ag3Sn due to the adsorption effect of the ZrO2 nanoparticles. This paper summarizes the effects of alloying elements and particles on the wettability, mechanical properties, creep behavior, microstructures, etc. of SnAg-based lead free solder alloys. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]