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Thermal conductance at Sn-0.5mass%Al solder alloy/substrate interface as a factor for tailoring cellular/dendritic growth

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Abstract

The use of Al for replacing high-cost alloying metals, like Ag, Bi, and Cu, as the second major element in Sn-based alloys, arises as a promising alternative for the development of low-cost Pb-free solder alloys. To date, however, the interfacial characteristics of Sn–Al solder joints in electronic substrates remain barely explored. Thus, the present study focuses on an understanding of the mechanisms affecting the heat transfer efficiency between a Sn–Al eutectic alloy and two types of substrates, establishing correlations with the microstructure evolution. Results of solidification experiments coupled with mathematical modeling demonstrate an interfacial thermal conductance between the Ni substrate and the Sn-0.5mass%Al alloy higher than that observed for the Sn–Al/Cu couple. Furthermore, Al-rich intermetallics are shown to occur at the interfacial reaction layers for both tested conditions. While dendritic and dendritic/cellular morphologies predominate in the solidification of the Sn–Al eutectic alloy in a Cu substrate, the better heat extraction through the Ni substrate induces the growth of refined high-cooling rate cells. Then, growth laws relating the length scale of the Sn-matrix, represented by cellular or primary dendritic spacings, to solidification thermal parameters such as cooling rate and growth rate are proposed.

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adapted from Saito [23] with emphasis on the eutectic composition (Sn-0.5mass%Al)

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to: FAPEAM – Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Amazonas, FAPESP—São Paulo Research Foundation, Brazil (Grant 2017/15158-0), CAPES – Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil, and CNPq – National Council for Scientific and Technological Development for their financial support, as well as the Brazilian Nanotechnology National Laboratory – LNNano for the use of X-ray diffractometer and scanning electron microscope.

Funding

This study has been financially supported by: FAPEAM – Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Amazonas, FAPESP – São Paulo Research Foundation, Brazil (Grant 2017/15158-0), and CAPES – Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil, and CNPq – National Council for Scientific and Technological Development.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Manufacturing and Materials Engineering, University of Campinas – UNICAMP, Campinas, São Paulo, 13083-860, Brazil

    Ricardo Oliveira, André Barros, Amauri Garcia & Noé Cheung

  2. Department of Production Engineering, Federal University of Ouro Preto – UFOP, João Monlevade, Minas Gerais, 35931-008, Brazil

    Clarissa Cruz

  3. Marine Sciences Institute, Federal University of São Paulo – UNIFESP, Santos, 11070-100, Brazil

    Felipe Bertelli

  4. Department of Materials Engineering, Federal University of São Carlos – UFSCar, São Carlos, São Paulo, 13565-905, Brazil

    José Eduardo Spinelli

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  1. Ricardo Oliveira
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  2. Clarissa Cruz
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  3. André Barros
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  4. Felipe Bertelli
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  5. José Eduardo Spinelli
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  6. Amauri Garcia
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  7. Noé Cheung
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Contributions

All authors contributed substantially to the conception and design of the study. First, alloys preparation, solidification experiments, data collection and analysis were carried out by RO, CC, and AB. The solidification model development and simulations were performed by Prof. FB and Prof. NC. Prof. JES and Prof. AG critically revised the work for important intellectual content. The first draft of the manuscript was written by RO, CC, AB, Prof. NC and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. Finally, all authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Noé Cheung.

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The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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The data that support the findings of this work are available from the corresponding author, Prof. Noé Cheung, upon reasonable request.

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Oliveira, R., Cruz, C., Barros, A. et al. Thermal conductance at Sn-0.5mass%Al solder alloy/substrate interface as a factor for tailoring cellular/dendritic growth. J Therm Anal Calorim 147, 4945–4958 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-021-10755-w

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