Fabrication of Sn-3.5Ag Eutectic Alloy Powder by Annealing Sub-Micrometer Sn@Ag Powder Prepared by Citric Acid-Assisted Ag Immersion Plating

摘要

A Sn-3.5Ag eutectic alloy powder has been developed by chemically synthesizing sub-micrometer Sn@Ag powder at room temperature. This synthesis was achieved by first obtaining a sub-micrometer Sn powder for the core using a modified variant of the polyol method, and then coating this with a uniformly thin and continuous Ag layer through immersion plating in 5.20 mM citric acid. The citric acid was found to play multiple roles in the Ag coating process, acting as a chelating agent, a reducing agent and a stabilizer to ensure coating uniformity; and as such, the amount used has an immense influence on the coating quality of the Ag shells. It was later verified by transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis that the coated Ag layer transfers to the Sn core via diffusion to form an Ag3Sn phase at room temperature. Differential scanning calorimetry also revealed that the synthesized Sn @Ag powder is nearly transformed into Sn-3.5Ag eutectic alloy powder upon annealing three times at a temperature of up to 250 degrees C, as evidenced by a single melting peak at 220.5 degrees C. It was inferred from this that Sn-3.5Ag eutectic alloy powder can be successfully prepared through the synthesis of core Sn powders by a modified polyol method, immersion plating using citric acid, and annealing, in that order.