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Enhancing the properties of the SAC305-soldered joint: heat treatment of the nickel-plated copper substrate before reflow soldering

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Abstract

In order to control the interfacial intermetallics of the commonly used soldering joint in the electronics packaging products, copper and nickel-plated copper were selected as the substrates, SAC305 was selected as the solder, and a series of experiments were conducted. The pure copper was plated with nickel and then the nickel-plated copper substrate was heat-treated before reflow soldering. Effects of substrate heat treatment on reflow soldering and aging of the soldered joints were studied. The results show that the heat treatment of nickel-plated copper substrate before reflow soldering can enhance the adhesion between the substrate and the plated coating and it can inhibit the growth of interfacial intermetallic compound (IMC). In the aging process, the IMC layer thickness of the soldered joint without heat treatment on the substrate before reflow is thicker than that of the soldered joint with heat treatment before reflow. The IMC growth rate of the interfacial layer of the soldered joint without heat treatment on the substrate before reflow is 5.854 × 10–17 m2 s−1; the IMC growth rate of the interfacial layer of the soldered joint with the substrate heat-treated before reflow soldering is 3.193 × 10–17 m2 s−1. In the shear test, the shear strength of the solder joints with heat treatment on the substrate before reflow soldering is higher than that of the solder joints without heat treatment before reflow soldering.

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The authors declare that data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article.

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Acknowledgements

This work was sponsored by the Science and Technology Innovation High Level Talent Project of Double Thousand Plan of Jiangxi Province (jxsq2019201048) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52065043).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Lab for Robot & Welding Automation of Jiangxi Province, Mechanical & Electrical Engineering School, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330031, China

    Yulong Li, Xiang Deng & Min Lei

  2. The Engineering Training Center of Nanchang University, Mechanical & Electrical Engineering School, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330031, China

    Xuewen Li & Hua Ouyang

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  1. Yulong Li
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  2. Xiang Deng
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  3. Min Lei
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  4. Xuewen Li
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  5. Hua Ouyang
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Yulong Li, Xiang Deng, Min Lei, Xuewen Li, and Hua Ouyang. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Yulong Li and Xiang Deng, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Hua Ouyang.

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Li, Y., Deng, X., Lei, M. et al. Enhancing the properties of the SAC305-soldered joint: heat treatment of the nickel-plated copper substrate before reflow soldering. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 33, 3535–3545 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-021-07545-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-021-07545-3

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