Technical Library | 2014-08-07 15:13:44.0
Gold embrittlement in SnPb solder is a well-known failure mechanism in electronic assembly. To avoid this issue, prior studies have indicated a maximum gold content of three weight percent. This study attempts to provide similar guidance for Pb-free (SAC305) solder. Standard surface mount devices were assembled with SnPb and SAC305 solder onto printed boards with various thicknesses of gold plating. The gold plating included electroless nickel immersion gold (ENIG) and electrolytic gold of 15, 25, 35, and 50 microinches over nickel. These gold thicknesses resulted in weight percentages between 0.4 to 7.0 weight percent.
Technical Library | 2015-11-25 14:15:12.0
In this study various printed circuit board surface finishes were evaluated, including: organic solderability preservative (OSP), plasma finish (PF), immersion silver (IAg), electroless nickel / immersion silver (ENIS), electroless nickel / immersion gold hi-phosphorus (ENIG Hi-P), and electroless nickel / electroless palladium / immersion gold (ENEPIG). To verify the performance of PF as a post-treatment option, it was added to IAg, ENIG Hi-P, and ENEPIG to compare with non-treated. A total of nine groups of PCB were evaluated. Each group contains 30 boards, with the exception on ENIS where only 8 boards were available.
Technical Library | 2013-01-17 15:34:33.0
The use of an electroless nickel, immersion gold (ENIG) surface finish comes with the inherent potential risk of Black Pad failures that can cause fracture embrittlement at the interface between the solder and the metal pad. As yet, there is no conclusive agreed solution to effectively eliminate Black Pad failures. The case studies presented are intended to add to the understanding of the Black Pad failure mechanism and to identify both the plating and the subsequent assembly processes and conditions that can help to prevent the likelihood of Black Pad occurring.
Technical Library | 2016-07-07 15:37:18.0
How susceptible are the metals used in modern electronics manufacturing to corrosion by common beverages? This is a question of interest, especially to manufacturers, retailers and to a certain extent end customers. In this study the dissolution of aluminum, copper, gold, iron, lead, nickel, SAC305 solder, silver, tin and zinc was examined. Individual foils of these materials were fully immersed in one of sixteen chosen beverages and heated for 3 days at 40°C. The resulting solutions were analyzed using ICP-OES. The data were examined in light of the known pH, conductivity and ionic contents of the beverages, determined in previous work. Conclusions about the relative susceptibility to corrosion of the various metals and the corrosive power of the different beverages are made.
Technical Library | 2018-05-09 22:15:29.0
Creep corrosion on printed circuit boards (PCBs) is the corrosion of copper metallization and the spreading of the copper corrosion products across the PCB surfaces to the extent that they may electrically short circuit neighboring features on the PCB. The iNEMI technical subcommittee on creep corrosion has developed a flowers-of-sulfur (FOS) based test that is sufficiently well developed for consideration as an industry standard qualification test for creep corrosion. This paper will address the important question of how relative humidity affects creep corrosion. A creep corrosion tendency that is inversely proportional to relative humidity may allow data center administrators to eliminate creep corrosion simply by controlling the relative humidity in the data center,thus, avoiding the high cost of gas-phase filtration of gaseous contamination. The creep corrosion relative humidity dependence will be studied using a modified version of the iNEMI FOS test chamber. The design modification allows the achievement of relative humidity as low as 15% in the presence of the chlorine-releasing bleach aqueous solution. The paper will report on the dependence of creep corrosion on humidity in the 15 to 80% relative humidity range by testing ENIG (gold on electroless nickel), ImAg (immersion silver) and OSP (organic surface preservative) finished PCBs, soldered with organic acid flux.
Technical Library | 2023-08-04 15:27:30.0
A designed experiment evaluated the influence of several variables on appearance and strength of Pb-free solder joints. Components, with leads finished with nickel-palladium-gold (NiPdAu), were used from Texas Instruments (TI) and two other integrated circuit suppliers. Pb-free solder paste used was tin-silver-copper (SnAgCu) alloy. Variables were printed wiring board (PWB) pad size/stencil aperture (the pad finish was consistent; electrolysis Ni/immersion Au), reflow atmosphere, reflow temperature, Pd thickness in the NiPdAu finish, and thermal aging. Height of solder wetting to component lead sides was measured for both ceramic plate and PWB soldering. A third response was solder joint strength; a "lead pull" test determined the maximum force needed to pull the component lead from the PWB. This paper presents a statistical analysis of the designed experiment. Reflow atmosphere and pad size/stencil aperture have the greatest contribution to the height of lead side wetting. Reflow temperature, palladium thickness, and preconditioning had very little impact on side-wetting height. For lead pull, variance in the data was relatively small and the factors tested had little impact.
Technical Library | 2018-07-11 22:46:13.0
For a demanding automotive electronics assembly, a highly thermal fatigue resistant solder alloy is required, which makes the lead-free Sn-Ag-Cu type solder alloy unusable. Sn-Ag-Bi-In solder alloy is considered as a high reliability solder alloy due to significant improvement in thermal fatigue resistance as compared to a standard Sn-Ag-Cu alloy. The alloy has not only good thermal fatigue properties but it also has superior ductility and tensile strength by appropriate addition of In; however, initial results indicated a sub-par performance in joint reliability when it is soldered on a printed circuit board (PCB) with Electroless Nickel Immersion Gold (ENIG) surface finish. Numerous experiments were performed to find out appropriate alloying element which would help improve the performance on ENIG PCBs. Sn-Ag-Bi-In solder alloys with and without Cu additions were prepared and then tests were carried out to see the performance in a thermal fatigue test and a drop resistance test.to investigate the impact of Cu addition towards the improvement of joint reliability on ENIG finish PCB. Also, the mechanism of such improvement is documented.
1 |