Microstructural features and mechanical behaviour of lead free solders for microelectronic packaging

The demands for high density, fine pitch interconnections in electronics systems has seen solder-based approaches for such interconnections miniaturized to the scale of tens of micro meters. At such a small scale, such 'micro joints' may contain only one or a few grains and the resultant mechanical behaviour may not be that for a polycrystalline aggregate, but rather for a single crystal. Since the ~-Sn matrix of SnAgCu solder has a contracted body-centred tetragonal (BCT) structure, such a solder grain is expected to demonstrate a considerably anisotropic behaviour. In such cases the reliability of a Phfree solder is strongly dependent on the local microstructural features, such as the size and orientation of the grains. This thesis presents the investigation of the evolution of microstructure within a joint or at the interface and, the influence of such microstructural features on the meso-scale mechanical behaviour of the Ph-free solder. It includes Evolution of the interface between a molten solder and the Cu substrate To form a joint, the solder alloy is heated and molten, wetting a solid under-bump metallization. After solidification, layers of brittle intermetallic compounds (IMCs) are formed at the interface. In this project, facilities were set up to obtain interfacial reactants at an arbitrary moment of the liquid/solid reaction. Formation and evolution ~ during reflow of SnCu IMCs at the interface between the molten SnAgCu alloy and the Cu UBM was captured and presented for the first time. Formation of phases and IMCs with the body of a liquid SnAgCu solder during solidification The formation behaviour of basic components for a SnAgCu grain (including Sn dendrites, AIDSn and Cu6Sns IMCs) during solidification was investigated. Relationships between the growth behaviour of these components and their internal lattice orientation were studied. The characteristic growth and coupling of AIDSn IMCs and the Sn matrix to form eutectics has been elaborated and presented in this study for - 1- the first time. Based on the results, the forming process of a eutectic SnAgCu grain under the non-equilibrioum solidification condition was illustrated; and major factors that determine the lattice-orientation, size and substructure of the grain were discussed. Meso- and Micro- scale mechanical behaviour of a SnAgCu solder joint To study the size effect on the microstructure, and subsequently, the meso-scale · mechanical behaviour, solder joints were manufactured with varying geometries. Shearing tests were performed·on these meso-scale joints. The results first demonstrated that the anisotropic characteristics of a SnAgCu grain play an important role in the mechanical behaviour of both a meso-scale solder joint and the adjacent interfacial IMCs. To further investigate the micro-scale deformation and damage mechanisms, micro-mechanical tests were preformed within a SnAgCu grain. Constitutive equations for a SnAgCu grain Based on the experimental results, a crystal model was established to describe the local microstructure-dependent mechanical behaviour. The constitutive equation was implemented by means of the finite element approach, and applied in solder joints of a Flip Chip (FC) package by a multi-scale method. To describe the crystal behaviour at the higher temperature, the model was improved to account for deformations due to vacancy diffusion and thermal expansion. This model was integrated by an implicit approach, and implemented in a full three dimension (3D) finite element (FE) model.