This paper studied the behaviors of sintering between Ag nanoparticle (NP) and nanoflake (NF) in the same size by molecular dynamics simulation. Before the sintering simulation, the melting simulation of NF was carried out to calculate the melting points of NFs and investigate the thermostability of NF. The Lindemann index and potential energy showed that the melting points of NF were significantly size-dependent. During the heating process, the sharp corner of NF transformed to the round corner and could bend spontaneously lower than melting points. In sintering simulation, the sintering process of NF-NP showed a metastable stage before equilibrium. Under low sintering temperature (500 K), the degree of plasticity sintering mechanism of NF-NP was more prominent, which generated more defects, such as amorphous atoms, dislocations, and stacking faults, than NP-NP. The sintered products of NF-NP also presented a better neck size and shrinkage than NP-NP in the same size. A new sintering behavior was observed: NF was bent toward the NP during the sintering. The bending curvature of NF increased as the thickness or the length/width decreased. For the NF with the ratio of length/width to thickness of 5:1, bending could further significantly facilitate neck growth. At 700 K, the plasticity mechanism dominated both the sintering processes of NF-NP and NP-NP. And NF-NP showed a larger diffusivity than NP-NP. At last, we investigated the effects of crystal misorientation, and found that a tilted grain boundary generated in the neck. The NF had the trend of rotation to decrease the crystal misorientation.

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This study investigated the mechanical properties for two types of solder alloy: Sn-0.7Ag-0.5Cu-3.5Bi-0.05Ni (SAC0705BiNi) vs. Sn-0.7Ag-0.5Cu (SAC0705) by using nano-indentation. Two kinds of solder alloy balls with a diameter of 400 μm are soldered to Cu pads on FR-4 substrates, and then formed the ball grid array (BGA) micro solder joints of Cu/SAC0705BiNi/Cu and Cu/SAC0705/Cu. Meanwhile, the combined effect of Bi and Ni elements on the mechanical properties of the bulk of low-Ag Cu/SAC0705/Cu was discussed. Experimental results revealed that the indentation depth and area of the bulk of Cu/SAC0705BiNi/Cu solder joints were smaller than that of Cu/SAC0705/Cu under the same load and strain rate. It was observed that the indentation morphologies of the two kinds of the bulk of micro solder joints have piling-up phenomenon at lower strain rate. Under the maximum load of 20 mN and the strain rate of 2.5 × 10^{− 1} s⁻¹, the indentation hardness of the bulk of Cu/SAC0705BiNi/Cu and Cu/SAC0705/Cu solder joints was 0.449 GPa and 0.200 GPa, respectively. And the strain hardening exponent was 0.302 and 0.159, respectively. Additionally, the stress-strain relationship was developed for the bulk of Cu/SAC0705BiNi/Cu and Cu/SAC0705/Cu micro solder joints. Compare with the bulk of the low-Ag Cu/SAC0705/Cu micro solder joints, the indentation hardness, indentation modulus and strain hardening exponent of the bulk of Cu/SAC0705BiNi/Cu achieve an improved by adding Bi and Ni elements.

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The effects of porous copper (P-Cu) on the microstructure, hardness, and shear strength of SnBi, SnBi-0.4Ag, and SnBi-1Ag solder joints were investigated in this paper. The experimental results show that P-Cu frames distribute in the solder bulks and form triangular areas. The addition of P-Cu leads to the microstructural refinement in the enclosed areas by the P-Cu frames in the solder bulks. The average hardness here is increased due to the fine grain strengthening mechanism. The SnBi-1Ag@P-Cu solder bulk shows smaller Bi-rich grains but larger β-Sn dendrites than the other two P-Cu-enhanced solder bulks. Porous Cu exists as a frame structure in the solder joints, which hinders the initiation and propagation of cracks and has a positive effect on the improvement of joint strength. Compared to the SnBi and SnBiAg solder joints, the shear strength of the P-Cu-enhanced solder joints is increased by 15%. The average shear strength of the SnBi-0.4Ag@P-Cu solder joint is 79.34 MPa, which is the highest among all the solder joints investigated in this study.

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The nanoindentation test was conducted in this paper to investigate the indentation hardness, plasticity and initial creep properties of pressure sintered nanosilver joint at various test temperatures. The effects of strain rate on the indentation hardness were first investigated. Then yield stress of nanosilver sintered joint was studied in various pressures sintered joints and the corresponding plastic stress-strain constitutive equations were gained. The maximum indentation depth of nanosilver sintered joint was obviously affected by the test temperature and sintering pressure. The indentation hardness of nanosilver sintered joint decreased with increasing test temperature from 140 to 200°C, which can be attributed to the increased amount of thermal vacancies at high temperatures. However, the indentation modulus exhibited decrease trend as the temperature increased. It is suggested that the distance between adjacent atoms was enlarged at elevated temperatures and furtherly resulted in the decrease of indentation modulus. In addition, the increased sintering pressure from 5 to 30 MPa improved the indentation hardness and modulus of sintered joint. The initial creep was observed in nanosilver sintered joint at temperatures ranged from 140 to 200°C. The increase of sintering pressure improved the resistance to creep of nanosilver sintered joint.

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Modern power electronics has the increased demands in current density and high-temperature reliability. However, these performance factors are limited due to the die attach materials used to affix power dies microchips to electric circuitry. Although several die attach materials and methods exist, nanosilver sintering technology has received much attention in attaching power dies due to its superior high-temperature reliability. This paper investigated the sintering properties of nanosilver film in double-side sintered power packages. X-ray diffraction results revealed that the size of nanosilver particles increased after pressure-free sintering. Compared with the pressure-free sintered nanosilver particles, the 5-MPa sintered particles showed a higher density. When increasing sintering pressure from 5 to 30 MPa, the shear strength of the sintered package increased from 8.71 to 86.26 MPa. When sintering at pressures below 20 MPa, the fracture areas are mainly located between the sintered Ag layer and the surface metallization layer on the fast recovery diode (FRD) die. The fracture occurs through the FRD die and the metallization layer on the bottom molybdenum substrate when sintering at 30 MPa.

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Eutectic Sn58Bi (SnBi) solder paste mixed with 0 wt.%, 3 wt.%, 5 wt.%, 8 wt.% and 15 wt.% of Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu (SAC) paste was prepared by mechanical mixing. The effects of SAC paste additions on the microstructure evolution of SnBi-SAC/Cu composite solder joints during isothermal aging were investigated. The results indicated that the number of large Bi-rich phases decreased and the relative areas of β-Sn increased with increasing SAC content. Moreover, 1-μm Bi-rich particles were found near the Bi-rich phases. During the isothermal aging process, the diameter of the 1-μm Bi-rich particles in the solder bulk increased by about 50% with aging time by Ostwald ripening. The thickness of the interfacial intermetallic compound in all the solder joints increased slightly during the aging process. The formation of Cu₆Sn₅ was suppressed by the Bi-rich phases above the Cu₆Sn₅ layer with the aging time increasing. In addition, the solder bulk showed many cracks along the β-Sn grain boundaries after isothermal aging when the content of SAC paste was 5 wt.%. With 8 wt.% or 15 wt.% SAC, fractures were more obvious near the interface than away from the interface.

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Purpose: Crack and stress distribution on dies are key issues for the pressure-assisted sintering bonding of power modules. The purpose of this research is to build a relationship among stress distributions, sintering sequences and sintering pressures during the sintering processes. Design/methodology/approach: Three sintering sequences, S(a), S(b) and S(c), have been designed for the double-side assembly of power module in this paper. Experiments and finite element method (FEM) analysis are conducted to investigate the crack and stress distribution. Findings: The sintering sequence had significant effects on the crack generation in the chips during the sintering process under 30-MPa pressure. The simulation results revealed that the module sintered by S(a) showed lower chip stress than those by the other two sintering sequences under 30 MPa. In contrast, the chip stress is the highest when the sintering sequence follows S(b). The simulation results explained the crack generation and prolongation in the experiments. S(a) was recommended as the best sintering sequence because of the lowest chip stress and highest yield rate. Originality/value: This study investigated the stress distributions of the double-side sintered power modules under different sintering pressures. Based on the results of experiments and FEM analysis, the best sintering sequence design is provided under various sintering pressures.

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The microstructure, thickness, porosity, and shear performance of the silver (Ag) sintering layers under different sintering pressures were investigated. Experimental results demonstrated that the thickness and the porosity of the sintering layer decreased when the sintering pressure varied from 5 MPa to 30 MPa. This densification phenomenon facilitated the enhancement of the Ag sintering layers. The shear strength was improved significantly from 44.19 MPa to 69.41 MPa when the sintering pressure increased from 5 MPa to 10 MPa. When the sintering pressure ranged from 10 MPa to 30 MPa, the shear strength presented a slow increase from 69.41 MPa to 73.38 MPa. According to the results of the failure analysis, fracture mode transformation was considered as the basic reason for this phenomenon. The increasing sintering pressure promoted the bonding of the nano-Ag particles during the sintering process. Consequently, the fracture of the sintered-Ag layer transformed from brittle fracture to ductile fracture because of the increasing sintering pressure. The delamination area between Cu and Ni layers coated on the bottom Mo plate was clearly enlarged with the increasing sintering pressure. The delamination between Cu and Ni layers coated on the bottom Mo plate turned to be the main failure mode when the sintering pressure was higher than 10 MPa.@en

This study investigated the interfacial reaction, the microstructure, and the hardness of the SAC305-xNi solder on both Cu and graphene-coated Cu (G–Cu) substrates. The experimental results indicate that the increase of Ni content in the solder leads to the roughness of the (Cu, Ni)6Sn5 IMC layer on Cu. In contrast, the growth of the (Cu, Ni)6Sn5 interfacial IMC, which results from increasing Ni addition, is significantly suppressed on G–Cu substrates. As the concentration of Ni ranges from 0 to 0.2 wt%, the microstructure of the solder bulks on Cu substrates shows slight changes. The hardness of the solder bulks in SAC305-Ni/Cu is similar to that in the SAC305/Cu solder joint. The amount of β-Sn rises and the eutectic area shrinks due to increasing Ni addition in the solder bulks on G–Cu substrates. Therefore, the solder bulks in the SAC305-Ni/G–Cu show lower hardness than that in the SAC305/G–Cu solder joint.@en

High reliable packaging materials are needed for electronics when they work at harsh environments. Among which, the nanosilver material has been widely studied and applied in power electronics due to its low processing temperature and high reliability. This paper investigates the bonding properties of nanosilver sintered hermetic cavity. There are two kinds of lids used in this study, including copper lid and silicon lid. The X-ray and C-Mode Scanning Acoustic Microscopy (C-SAM) results revealed that delamination tended to happen in Cu lid sintered cavity as the recovery of deformed Cu lid was hindered by sintered dense Ag layer. However, no delamination or cracks were found in Si lid sintered cavity. Finite element analysis (FEA) method was used to investigate the effects of lid materials on the stress distribution of lid. The results indicated that the Cu lid sintered cavity showed a much higher stress than the Si lid sintered cavity under the sintering parameters of 250 °C and 10 MPa. There is no obvious change in the stress distribution areas on Cu lid with the increasing of pressures from 5 to 30 MPa. However, the distribution area of stress on Si lid expanded obviously only when the sintering pressure increased to 30 MPa. With the increase of sintering pressures from 5 to 30 MPa, the maximum stresses on Cu lid are almost the same, while increasing trend was found on Si lid.@en

In this study, SAC305 and SAC305-0.3Ni solder balls were soldered onto Cu, high temperature treated Cu (H-Cu) and graphene coated Cu (G-Cu) substrates, respectively. The microstructure, the interfacial reaction, and the hardness of the solder joints were investigated. The interfacial intermetallic compound (IMC) is Cu₆Sn₅ in the solder joints of SAC305/Cu, SAC305/H-Cu, and SAC305/G-Cu. With the addition of 0.3 wt% Ni in the SAC305 solder, the interfacial IMC on Cu, H-Cu, and G-Cu transforms from Cu₆Sn₅ into (Cu, Ni)₆Sn₅. The thickness of Cu₆Sn₅ and (Cu, Ni)₆Sn₅ is the lowest on G-Cu substrate. Meanwhile, smooth (Cu, Ni)₆Sn₅ interfacial IMC layers are obtained in SAC305-0.3Ni/H-Cu and SAC305-0.3Ni/G-Cu solder joints. Both the SAC305 and the SAC305-0.3Ni solder bulks have the highest β-Sn content and the lowest concentration of eutectic phases on G-Cu substrate. Consequently, the hardness of the solder bulks on G-Cu is lower than that on the other two kinds of substrates.

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This paper compared the fatigue damage accumulation of the gold-tin eutectic die attach layer in different high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) packages with various types of die attach layers and substrates under thermal cyclic loading. The fatigue damage per cycle used in this study was characterized by the accumulation of plastic work, which was derived by the finite element analysis (FEA). The effects of die attach layer's standoff height and thickness of substrate on fatigue damage accumulation was discussed. The results show that increasing the standoff height of the die attach layer is an effective way to prevent the early crack initiation in gold-tin die attach layer especially for a gallium nitride (GaN) die. It is also indicated that for a GaN die, a thicker die attach layer and a thinner substrate are preferable in order to retain a comparable lifetime with silicon (Si) die and Cu substrate system.@en

Sn58Bi (SnBi) composite solder pastes were fabricated with various amounts of Sn–3.0Ag–0.5Cu (SAC) particles addition by mechanical mixing technic. The microstructure, hardness, and shear behavior of the solder joints were investigated. The experimental results indicate that the addition of SAC particles in the composite solder pastes significantly increases the concentration as well as the grain size of Sn and Bi-rich phase in the microstructure of the SnBi–SAC solder bulks. Meanwhile, the amount of submicron Bi grains increases because of increasing SAC content. The hardness of the solder bulks decreases as the percentage of SAC particles varies from 0 to 8 wt%, but increases when the doped percentage rises from 8 to 15 wt%. The shear force shows an ascending tendency because of the addition of SAC particles into the solder pastes with the range from 0 to 5 wt%. As the concentration of SAC increases to 8 wt% and even 15 wt%, large voids can be observed and the shear force of the solder joints decreases.

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The addition of Cu nanoparticles into the solder pastes by mechanical mixing method creates a positive effect on the microstructure refinement of the LED solder joints. The grain size of-Sn and Cu6Sn5 decrease obviously due to the increasing concentration of the nanoparticles in the solder pastes. However, the addition of nanoparticles facilitates the formation of voids in the solder joints, especially when the concentration of nanoparticles is higher than 0.5 wt% in the solder pastes. Both the microstructure refinement and void percentage affect the shear strength of the solder joints. Since the increase of the void percentage is limited when the concentration of nanoparticles increases from 0 to 0.5 wt%, the microstructure refinement shows a dominant effect on the shear performance and thus improves the shear strength of the solder joints from 49.8 to 55 MPa. Further addition of nanoparticles in the solder pastes leads to a sharp increase of the void percentage. Consequently, the shear strength of the solder joints decreases from 55 to 48.8 MPa when the concentration of doped particles increases from 0.5 to 1 wt% in the solder pastes.@en

Purpose
- The purpose of this paper is to discuss the possibility of using soldering process for the bonding of chip-on-flexible (COF) light-emitting diode (LED) packages to heat sinks. The common bonding materials are thermal conductive adhesives. For thermal performance and reliability concerns, Tin-Bismuth (SnBi) lead-free solder paste was used for the connection of the COF packages and the Cu heat sinks by a soldering process in this study. Meanwhile, the geometrical effect of the SnBi solder layer on the thermal performance was also investigated.
Design/methodology/approach
- The effects of the bonding materials and the area of the solder layers on the thermal performance of the LED modules were investigated by finite element simulation and experimental tests.
Findings
– The SnBi soldered modules show much lower thermal resistance at the bonding layers than the adhesive-bonded LED module. Vertical heat transfer from the LED chips to the heat sinks is the primary heat dissipation mode for the SnBi soldered modules. Thus, the LED module with local solder layer shows similar LED thermal performance with the full-area soldered module. Meanwhile, the local soldering process decreases the possibility to form randomly distributed defects such as the large area voids and residue flux in the solder layers.
Research limitations/implications
– The research is still in progress. Further studies mainly focus on the reliability of the samples with different bonding materials.
Practical implications
– COF package is a new structure for LED packages. This study provides a comparison between SnBi solder and adhesive material on the thermal performance of the LED. Meanwhile, the authors optimized the geometrical design for the solder layer. The study provides a feasible bonding process for COF packages onto heat sinks.
Originality/value
– This study provides a soldering process for the COF LED packages. The thermal performance of the LED light source was improved significantly by the new process.@en