Using thin film solder strips, we have investigated the electromigration of six different compositions of Sn–Pb solders at current density of 105 A/cm2 near ambient temperature. The six compositions are pure Sn, Sn80Pb20, Sn70Pb30, Sn62Pb38 (eutectic), Sn40Pb60, and Sn5Pb95. The eutectic alloy, with the lowest melting point and a high density of lamella interfaces, was found to have the fastest hillock growth. As composition moving toward the two terminal phases, the hillock growth rate decreases; but it increases again in pure Sn. The interface between Sn and Pb, being the fastest kinetic path of mass transport, also serves as the place to initiate hillock and void formation.

In multilevel interconnects, current crowding occurs whenever the current changes direction, such as when passing through a via. We propose that in current crowding, the current-density gradient can exert a driving force strong enough to cause excess vacancies (point defects) to migrate from high to low current-density regions. This leads to void formation in the latter. This is a key feature of electromigration-induced damage in very large scale integrated interconnects.

On Au/Cu/Cr thin film surface, a drop of molten Sn first spreads out to wet the surface, but it then pulls back to dewet. The latter is due to the spalling of Cu–Sn compounds and exposing the Cr surface to the molten Sn when all of the Cu film has been consumed by the wetting reaction. Dewetting is clearly undesirable for solder joints in electronic packaging; the phenomenon is presented here.

We have investigated the wetting angle, side band growth, and intermetallic compound formation of seven SnPb alloys on Cu ranging from pure Sn to pure Pb. The wetting angle has a minimum near the middle composition and increases toward pure Sn and pure Pb, but the side band growth has a maximum near the middle composition. The intermetallic compounds formed are Cu 6 Sn 5 and Cu 3 Sn for the eutectic and high-Sn alloys, yet for the high-Pb alloys, only Cu 3 Sn can be detected. While no intermetallic compound forms between Cu and pure Pb, the latter nevertheless wets the former with an angle of 115 ± . The driving force of a wetting reaction, which may be affected by the free energy gain in compound formation, is discussed by assuming that rate of compound formation is fast.

We examined the interfacial morphology and shear deformation of flip chip solder joints on an organic substrate (chip-on-board). The large differences in the coefficients of thermal expansion between the board and the chip resulted in bending of the 1-cm2 chip with a curvature of 57 ± 12 cm. The corner bump pads on the chip registered a relative misalignment of 10 μm with respect to those on the board, resulting in shear deformation of the solder joints. The mechanical properties of these solder joints were tested on samples made by sandwiching two Si chips with electroless Ni(P) as the under-bump metallization and 25 solder interconnects. Joints were sheared to failure. Fracture was found to occur along the solder/Ni3Sn4 interface. In addition, cracking and peeling damages of the SiO2 dielectric layer were observed in the layer around the solder balls, indicating that damage to the dielectric layer may have occurred prior to the fracture of the solder joints due to a large normal stress. The failure behavior of the solder joints is characterized by an approximate stress analysis.