Development of a Lead-Free Alloy for High-Reliability, High-Temperature Applications

摘要

Though the electronics industry is nearing the 3-year anniversary marking the ban of lead from electronics products, several challenges still remain with existing lead-free materials for certain applications. The commonly used and accepted SnAgCu (tin-silver-copper, also known as SAC) alloy has proven to be a suitable material for the production of many devices but, for those applications that require extremely high reliability, current SAC materials are less than ideal. In particular, devices that will find end use in automotive and military/aerospace products require a lead-free material that can withstand the higher temperatures operation life (e.g. automotive under-the-hood conditions), offer vibration resistance not commonly associated with traditional SAC alloys and deliver high temperature (> 125°C) thermal cycling reliability levels beyond those available with current commercialized SAC materials.