High temperature lead-free solder for microelectronics

Abstract

This paper reports results of a four-year industrial consortium effort to develop lead-free solders for high-temperature applications (up to 160°C). Work included preliminary evaluations of 32 tin-based alloys, a screening of the thermomechanical fatigue performance of 13 promising alloys, and a full manufacturability and fatigue testing of the seven 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, and Sn-3.5Ag-1.5In (compositions in weight percent). Eight different components were used on the reliability test vehicle, and the alloys were compared through Weibull analysis. In addition, the same seven experimental alloys were tested with ball grid array packages cycled up to 100°C or 125°C. All the lead-free alloys performed well, but those containing bismuth showed especially outstanding performance. In general, the ternary and higher alloys performed as well or better than the industry standard tin-silver eutectic, suggesting that solders other than the tin-silver eutectic should be considered for high-reliability, high-temperature applications.