Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T04:16:40.388Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Kinetics of Pb-rich Phase Particle Coarsening in Sn–Pb Solder Under Isothermal Annealing–cooling Rate Dependence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2005

Paul Vianco
Affiliation:
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185
Jerome Rejent
Affiliation:
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185
Gary Zender
Affiliation:
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185
Alice Kilgo
Affiliation:
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185
Get access

Abstract

The coarsening behavior of the Pb-rich phase particles in 63Sn–37Pb (wt%) solder was investigated following isothermal annealing treatments. Samples were exposed to cooling rates of 0.1, 1.0, 10, and 100 °C/min. Annealing temperatures were 25, 55, 70, 85, and 100 °C, and times were 2–100 days. The mean particle diameter decreased from 1.8 × 10−3 to 0.8 × 10−3 mm with increased cooling rate, indicating two solidification regimes: one for cooling rates ≤1 °C/min and the other for cooling rates of ≥10 °C/min. The Pb-rich phase particles coarsened more quickly in samples made at the two fastest cooling rates. There was little Pb-rich phase particle coarsening at 25 and 55 °C for all annealing times. Coarsening rate kinetics were examined specifically for the 10 and 100 °C/min data using the expression Atnexp[−ΔH/RT]. The values of n were 0.23 ± 0.11 and 0.36 ± 0.13, respectively; n was not sensitive to annealing temperature. The corresponding 1/n values indicated that the coarsening mechanism changed from a fast diffusion to a bulk diffusion controlled process with a faster cooling rate. The apparent activation energy ΔH ranged from 16 ± 8 to 41 ± 8 kJ/mol; the values increased with cooling rate from 10 to 100 °C/min. The ΔH value was sensitive to annealing temperature only for the faster cooling rate of 100 °C/min. Together, the n and ΔH values indicated that an accelerated, fast diffusion mechanism with low activation barriers characterized the Pb-rich phase coarsening in samples exposed to a slower cooling rate, greater annealing, or a combination of the two conditions. That mechanism likely originated from the in situ development of recover/recrystallization microstructures in the Sn-rich phase. At faster cooling rates, those microstructures were not as well developed, so coarsening was controlled more by the higher activation barriers of bulk diffusion processes.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1Binary Alloy Phase Diagrams, edited by Massalski, T. (ASM, International, Materials Park, OH, 1986), p. 1848.Google Scholar
2Nylen, M. and Norgren, S.: Temperature variations in soldering and their influence on microstructure and strength of solder joints. Soldering Surf. Mount Technol. 5, 15 (1990).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3Guo, Z. and Conrad, H.: Effect of microstructure size on deformation kinetics and thermo-mechanical fatigue of 63Sn–37Pb solder joints. J. Electron. Packaging 118, 49 (1996).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4Mei, Z., Morris, J., Shine, M. and Summers, T.: Effects of cooling rate on mechanical properties of near-eutectic tin-lead solder joint. J. Electron. Mater. 20, 599 (1991).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5Rack, H. and Maurin, J.: Mechanical properties of cast tin-lead solder. J. Test. Eval. 2, 351 (1974).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6Lampe, B.: Room temperature aging properties of some solder alloys. Welding J., Res. Suppl. 55, 330 (1976).Google Scholar
7Frear, D., Burchett, S., Neilsen, M. and Stephens, J.: Microstructurally based finite element simulation of solder joint behavior. Soldering Surf. Mount Technol. 5, 39 (1997).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8Burchett, S., Neilsen, M., Frear, D. and Stephens, J. Computational Continuum Modeling of Solder Interconnects, in Design and Reliability of Solders and Solder Interconnects, edited by Mahidhara, R., Frear, D., Sastry, S., Murty, K., Liaw, P., and Winterbottom, W., (TMS, Warrendale, PA, 1997), p. 171.Google Scholar
9Vianco, P., Burchett, S., Neilsen, M., Rejent, J. and Frear, D.: Coarsening of the Sn–Pb solder microstructure in constitutive model-based predictions of solder joint thermal mechanical fatigue. J. Electron. Mater. 28, 1288 (1999).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10Frear, D., Givas, D. and Morris, J.: A microstructural study of the thermal fatigue failures of 60Sn–40Pb solder joints. J. Electron. Mater. 17, 171 (1988).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11Hacke, P., Fahmy, Y. and Conrad, H.: Phase coarsening and crack growth rate during thermo-mechanical cycling of 63Sn37Pb solder joints. J. Electron. Mater. 27, 941 (1998).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12Hacke, P., Sprecher, A. and Conrad, H.: Computer simulation of thermo-mechanical fatigue of solder joints including microstructural coarsening. J. Electron. Packaging 115, 153 (1993).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13Hacke, P., Sprecher, A. and Conrad, H.: Microstructure coarsening during thermo-mechanical fatigue of Pb–Sn solder joints. J. Electron. Mater. 26, 774 (1997).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14Jung, K. and Conrad, H.: Microstructure coarsening during static annealing of 60Sn-40Pb Solder Joints: II Eutectic coarsening kinetics. J. Electron. Mater. 30, 1303 (2001).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15Askin, J.: Tracer Diffusion Data (Plenum, New York, NY, 1970).Google Scholar
16Mehrer, H. and Seeger, A.: Analysis of the pressure dependence of self-diffusion with applications to vacancy properties in lead. Cryst. Latt. Defects 3, 1 (1972).Google Scholar
17Decker, D., Weiss, J. and van Fleet, H.: Diffusion of Sn in Pb to 30 kbar. Phys. Rev. B 16, 2392 (1977).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18Gupta, D., Vieregge, K. and Gust, W.: Interface diffusion in eutectic Pb–Sn solder. Acta Mater. 47, 5 (1999).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
19Shewmon, P.: Transformations in Metal (McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, 1969), pp. 6365.Google Scholar
20Shewmon, P.: Diffusion in Solids, 2nd ed. (TMS, Warrendale, PA, 1989), pp. 189199.Google Scholar
21Christian, J.: The Theory of Transformations in Metals and Alloys: Part I—Equilibrium and General Kinetic Theory (Pergamon, Oxford, U.K., 1975), pp. 541543.Google Scholar
22Yeh, D. and Huntington, H.: Extreme fast-diffusion system: Nickel is single-crystal tin. Phys. Rev. Lett. 53, 1469 (1984).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
23Machlin, E.: An Introduction to Aspects of Thermodynamics and Kinetics Relevant to Materials Science (Giro Press, Croton-on-Hudson, NY, 1999) pp. 299308.Google Scholar