Industry News | 2012-02-15 19:03:23.0
Nihon Superior announces that its Senior Technical Advisor Keith Sweatman will present “The Effect of Composition on the Thickness Morphology and Growth of Interfacial Intermetallic in Pb-Free Solders” at the upcoming TMS Annual Conference. The presentation will take place during the session, titled “Pb-Free Solders and Other Materials for Emerging Interconnect and Packaging Technologies: Solder Alloy Design for Challenging Applications”.
Career Center | Milpitas, California USA | Clerical,Production,Quality Control,Research and Development,Technical Support
Winslow Automation, Inc. (aka Six Sigma), an industry leader in electronic component interconnect technology & related test and failure analysis services, is seeking a ‘hands on’ Materials Engineer to join our Test services team. This individual wi
Industry News | 2011-10-16 00:20:48.0
Nihon Superior announces that Keith Sweatman will present a paper titled “The Effect of Microalloy Additions on the Morphology and Growth of Interfacial Intermetallic in Low-Ag and No-Ag Pb-Free Solders” at the upcoming SMTA International 2011.
Technical Library | 2013-01-03 20:27:54.0
Electronics assemblies with large flip-chip BGA packages can be prone to either pad cratering or brittle intermetallic (IMC) failures under excessive PCB bending. Pad cratering cracks are not detected by electrical testing or non-destructive inspection methods, yet they pose a long term reliability risk since the cracks may propagate under subsequent loads to cause electrical failure. Since the initiation of pad cratering does not result in an instantaneous electrical signature, detecting the onset of this failure has been challenging. An acoustic emission methodology was recently developed by the authors to detect the onset of pad cratering. The instantaneous release of elastic energy associated with the initiation of an internal crack, i.e., Acoustic Emission (AE), can be monitored to accurately determine the onset of both pad cratering and brittle intermetallic (IMC) failures.
Industry News | 2011-03-01 16:38:55.0
Nihon Superior Co. Ltd. announces that Keith Sweatman, Senior Technical Advisor, will present a paper titled "The Stability Window and Mechanical Properties of the Interfacial Intermetallic in Lead-free Solder Joints" at the upcoming TMS 2011 Annual Meeting & Exhibition.
Industry News | 2012-02-07 16:20:22.0
Nihon Superior announces that its Senior Technical Advisor Keith Sweatman will present the paper titled “Effect of Cooling Rate on the Intermetallic Layer in Solder Joints” at the upcoming IPC APEX Expo.
Technical Library | 2013-02-28 17:14:36.0
While it has long been known that the Cu6Sn5 intermetallic that plays a critical role in the reliability of solder joints made with tin-containing alloys on copper substrates exists in two different crystal forms over the temperature range to which electronics circuitry is exposed during assembly and service, it has only recently been recognized that the change from one form to the other has implications for solder joint reliability. (..) In this paper the authors report a study of the effect of cooling rates on Cu6Sn5 crystals. Cooling rates from 200°C ranged from 10°C/minute to 100°C/minute and the effect of isothermal ageing at intermediate temperatures was also studied. The extent of the phase transformation after each regime was determined using synchrotron X-ray diffraction. The findings have important implications for the manufacture of solder joints and their in-service performance... First published in the 2012 IPC APEX EXPO technical conference proceedings....
Technical Library | 2018-05-17 11:14:52.0
Intermetallic compound (IMC) growth is being studied in earnest in this past decade because of its significant effect the solder joint reliability. It appears that from numerous investigations conducted, excessive growth of IMC could lead to solder joint failure. Leading to this, many attempts has been made to determine the actual IMC thickness. However, precise and true representation of the growth in the actual 3D phenomenon from 2D cross-section investigations has remained unclear. This paper will focus on the measuring the IMC thickness using 3D surface profilometer (Alicona Focus G4). Lead free solder, Sn3.0Ag0.5Cu (SAC305) was soldered onto copper printed circuit board (Cu PCB). The samples were then subjected to thermal cycle (TC) storage process with temperature range from 0 °C to 100 °C for 200 cycles and up to 1000 cycles were completed.
Technical Library | 2022-10-31 17:09:04.0
The global transition to lead-free (Pb-free) electronics has led component and equipment manufacturers to transform their tin–lead (SnPb) processes to Pb-free. At the same time, Pb-free legislation has granted exemptions for some products whose applications require high long-term reliability. However, due to a reduction in the availability of SnPb components, compatibility concerns can arise if Pb-free components have to be utilized in a SnPb assembly. This compatibility situation of attaching a Pb-free component in a SnPb assembly is generally termed "backward compatibility." This paper presents the results of microstructural analysis of mixed solder joints which are formed by attaching Pb-free solder balls (SnAgCu) of a ball-grid-array component using SnPb paste. The experiment evaluates the Pb phase coarsening in bulk solder microstructure and the study of intermetallic compounds formed at the interface between the solder and the copper pad.
A technology that identifies the intermetallic compound formation, enables the system to provide closed loop feedback to the operator and validates the condition of the solder joint. This technology works in conjunction with SmartHeat® and patented C
