Influence of Substrate Surface Roughness on Tin Whisker Growth

Rodekohr, C.L.; Flowers, George T.; Suhling, Jeff; Bozack, Michael J.

doi:10.1109/holm.2008.ecp.51

Cited by 12 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 4 publications

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“…The brass (Cu63/Zn36, at%) substrates were commercially-purchased (Goodfellow) metal sheets which we cut into coupons of dimension 1 cm x 1 cm. The coupon surfaces were subsequently electrochemically polished due to previous work in our laboratory which showed that smoother substrate surfaces enhance whisker growth [10]. The Sn films were sputtered using an argon plasma at pressures of 2-3 mtorr, producing an intrinsic compressive stress in the films [11].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oxidation-Induced Growth of Sn Whiskers in a Pure Oxygen Gas Environment

Crandall

Flowers

Dean

et al. 2010

2010 Proceedings of the 56th IEEE Holm Conference on Electrical Contacts

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Several studies have demonstrated that tin (Sn) whisker growth is enhanced by exposure to atmospheric and high relative humidity conditions. The presumption is that diffusion of oxygen into the Sn thin film results in the lattice expansion of metal oxide phases which place the film under compressive stress. The increased stress is subsequently relieved in part by growth of Sn whiskers. In order to clarify the role of oxygen on whisker production, we exposed sputtered thin films (~ 1400 Å) of Sn on brass to a high pressure (1 atm) of pure 99.999% oxygen in a highly controlled, high vacuum environment.A dramatic increase (~ 9X, ~ 16x10 3 whiskers/cm 2 ) in whisker growth occurred for the pure O 2 exposed samples compared to similar ambient room temperature/humidity incubated samples. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis of the resultant oxidized surface showed that the pure O 2 exposed samples contained a higher fraction of SnO/SnO 2 compared to atmospheric-exposed Sn on brass.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%