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Effect of thin gold/nickel coating on the microstructure, wettability and hardness of lead-free tin–bismuth–silver solder

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Abstract

This paper investigates the coating thickness and surface morphology of gold/nickel (Au/Ni) layer on copper (Cu) substrate. A cross-sectioned SEM analysis confirmed that the Au/Ni coating was uniform. The top Au layer with average thickness of 0.7 µm appeared to have a very smooth surface without any defect such as cracks and delamination. However, the thin Au/Ni coating greatly influenced the interfacial structure and material properties of electronic interconnections. In the reference Cu substrate/Sn–Bi–Ag solder system, an island-shaped Cu6Sn5 IMC layer at the interface could be clearly observed at the initial reaction stage. After a prolong reaction, a very thin Cu3Sn IMC layer was formed with excessive growth of the Cu6Sn5 IMC layer which can deteriorate the electronic interconnection life-span. However, in the Au/Ni coated substrate/solder system, a very thin scallop-shaped ternary Ni3Sn4 IMC layer formed without the Cu3Sn IMC layer, indicating that the Au/Ni coating hindered the growth of the IMC layer, which consequently changed the activation energies and refined the microstructure. Additionally, the overall micro-hardness of the Au/Ni coated substrate/solder system is higher than that of the reference solder system.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the financial support provided by The University of New South Wales (UNSW) for the project InfoEd Ref: RG124326. The authors would like to thank EPA centre staff for using the facility to do the experiment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Precision and Nano Processing Technologies, School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

    Asit Kumar Gain & Liangchi Zhang

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  1. Asit Kumar Gain
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  2. Liangchi Zhang
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Correspondence to Asit Kumar Gain.

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Gain, A.K., Zhang, L. Effect of thin gold/nickel coating on the microstructure, wettability and hardness of lead-free tin–bismuth–silver solder. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 28, 4885–4896 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-016-6136-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-016-6136-3

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