Effects of Impurity on Void Formation at Interface between Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu and Cu Electroplated Film

Abstract

Void formation is a critical reliability concern for solder joints in electronic packaging. The control of microstructures and impurity quantities in Cu electroplated films significantly affects the void formation at the joint interface, but the studies for their comparison are seldom. In this study, three Cu films (termed as A, B, and C) are fabricated using an electroplating process. The Cu A film has a facted grain texture embedded with twins while Cu B and C have a similar columnar texture. After thermal aging at 200°C for 1000 h, the SAC 305 (Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu) solder joints with Cu A and B exhibit a robust interfacial structure without voids. However, microstructural collapse is observed in the solder joint of SAC 305/Cu C, where many crevives parallel to the interface are formed. Based on the microanalysis, the concentration of impurity is higher in the Cu C film than those in Cu A and B. Moreover, discrete voids rather than continuous crevices are presented in the SAC305/Cu C system when the impurity concentration in Cu C is reduced. The findings demonstrate that the impurity control in the Cu electroplated film is critical for the control of void/crevice formation in the electronic solder joints.