Understanding the deformation creep and role of intermetallic compound-microstructure in Sn-Ag-Cu solders
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Published version
Author(s)
Gu, Tianhong
Xu, Yilun
Gourlay, Christopher M
Dunne, Fionn PE
Ben Britton, T
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Tin-based alloys are commonly used in lead-free solder joints in electronic interconnection applications, where creep can limit joint reliability. In this work, directionally solidified bulk solder alloys of different compositions (pure tin, SAC105 and SAC305) are mechanically tested under a constant load for each composition at room temperature to understand mechanical creep performance and quantify the role of different content of Ag3Sn and Cu6Sn5 intermetallic compounds (IMCs) in terms of secondary creep strain rate, microstructural evolution, and total amount of accumulated strain. In this work, microstructures are fabricated using directional solidification to promote a systematic variation in IMC sizes, shapes, and distributions within similar crystal orientations of the primary β-Sn matrix. Analysis of creep data indicates that secondary creep is dominated by obstacle-controlled dislocation motion. This is further confirmed by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) analysis, which reveals that the formation of subgrains and internal structure, correlating to the initial microstructure of the sample, i.e. changes in secondary dendrite arm spacing (λ2) and eutectic intermetallic spacing (λe). The experimental observations are supported further by crystal plasticity simulations that explicitly model the presence of IMCs within the Sn-based samples and show the dependence of the secondary creep rate upon the IMC content, and therefore be beneficial for the possible future composition design in solders.
Date Issued
2024-12-01
Date Acceptance
2024-10-20
Citation
Materials Science and Engineering A: Structural Materials: Properties, Microstructure and Processing, 2024, 918
ISSN
0921-5093
Publisher
Elsevier
Journal / Book Title
Materials Science and Engineering A: Structural Materials: Properties, Microstructure and Processing
Volume
918
Copyright Statement
© 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
License URL
Identifier
10.1016/j.msea.2024.147429
Subjects
BULK SOLDER
CRYSTAL ORIENTATION
Crystal plasticity
DAMAGE EVOLUTION
Digital image correlation
Geometrically necessary dislocation
IN-SITU
JOINTS
Materials Science
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
MECHANICAL-PROPERTIES
Metallurgy & Metallurgical Engineering
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
PART II
Pb-free solder
PB-FREE SOLDERS
Recrystallisation
Science & Technology
Science & Technology - Other Topics
Technology
TERNARY 95.5SN-3.9AG-0.6CU SOLDER
THERMAL-BEHAVIOR
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
147429
Date Publish Online
2024-10-21