Effect of Thermal Cycling on Properties and Microstructure of SnAgCuCe Soldered Joints in QFP Devices

摘要

Increasing global concern about the environment is bringing regulatory （European directives） and consumer （"green products"） pressure on the electronics industry in Europe and Japan to reduce or completely eliminate the use of lead （Pb） in products. Among all lead-free solder alloys, SnAgCu solder system, which has better thermo-mechanical properties compared with those of SnPb solder, is proven to be one of the promising candidates for electronic assembly. Previous work also revealed that adding a small amount of rare earth Ce into SnAgCu solder can visibly improve the properties and inhibit the excessive growth of the intermetallic compound layer. Thermal fatigue properties of SnAgCuCe soldered joints in QFP devices under thermal conditions have been investigated by finite element method and experiments. Based on creep model of low stress and high stress, corresponding creep subroutine was established for simulating the stress and strain response of SnAgCuCe soldered joint from -55 ℃ to 125 ℃, and fatigue life was calculated using creep fatigue life prediction equation. Moreover, thermal cycling experiments were conducted, the experimental results were found to be close to the simulated results. In addition, the tensile force of SnAgCuCe soldered joints decreased with increasing number of thermal cycles, and the fracture mechanism transformed from toughness fracture to brittle intergranular fracture. Moreover the tensile force changes and fracture microstructure evolution could benefit the quantitative evaluations of the mechanical performances of lead-free soldered joints under thermal cycling loadings.