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Article history: Nowadays, one of the strategies to improve the reliability of lead-free solder joints is to add minor
Received 13 April 2016 alloying elements to solders. Therefore, the aims of this study are to investigate the effect of Ni and Sb, as
Received in revised form well as that of the testing conditions (temperature and strain rate), on the mechanical properties of two
24 May 2016
new lead-free solder joints, Sn-3.8Ag-0.7Cu-3Bi/Cu and Sn-3.8Ag-0.7Cu-3Bi0.2Ni1.54Sb/Cu. The changes,
Accepted 25 May 2016
after testing, in their respective microstructure will also be investigated. The procedure to fabricate
Available online 26 May 2016
appropriate joint samples is described in this research. The shear tests were conducted by micro-tensile
Keywords: machine at temperatures between room temperature and 125 °C and strain rates between 2.0 10 4 s 1
Pb-free solder and 2.0 10 2 s 1. The experimental results indicate that, with additions of Ni and Sb in Sn-3.8Ag-
Alloy element
0.7Cu-3Bi, the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and the yield stress ( σy ) are improved. Moreover, both
Mechanical characterization
temperature and strain rate may have substantial effects on the mechanical behavior and the micro-
Deformation and fracture
Intermetallics structural features of the solder alloys. During the shear tests, the strength decreases with the increase of
Finite element method the test temperature and/or the decrease of the strain rate. The enhanced strength is attributed to the
solid solution hardening effects of Sb in the Sn matrix and the refinement of the microstructure with the
addition of Ni. Ni and Sb additions lead to the formation of new (Cu, Ni)6Sn5 and Ag3(Sn, Sb) IMCs.
Needle-like (Cu, Ni)6Sn5 appeared in the Sn-3.8Ag-0.7Cu-3Bi0.2Ni1.54Sb/Cu, instead of the globular-like
Cu6Sn5 inSn-3.8Ag-0.7Cu-3Bi/Cu. In addition, the nine Anand material parameters are identified using
the shear stress-strain data and a non-linear least square fitting and its validity is checked by means of
the experimental data. The findings found that these Anand parameters are also in good agreement with
data given in literature for other solder alloys. The obtained material parameters of the Anand con-
stitutive model were utilized to analyze the stress-strain response of an Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor
(IGBT) under thermal cycling. Furthermore, the SEM analysis of as-fabricated joint specimens as well as
fractured specimens at different testing conditions was done to observe the effects of these factors on the
microstructure of the solder alloys.
& 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.msea.2016.05.102
0921-5093/& 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
404 Q.B. Tao et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 669 (2016) 403–416
operation temperature applications. The purpose of these tests is to investigate in a systematic manner
In order to improve the properties of these lead-free solders, the effect of Ni and Sb atoms and testing conditions (strain rate
some alloying elements have been added to the lead-free solders. and temperature) on the material properties of the solder alloys as
Among the alloying elements, the most popular choice are Ni, Bi, data on the mechanical properties of these newly-developed lead-
Sb, Mn, Ti, Ce and Co. They are used to generate new solders which free solder alloys is still lacking. It turned out that the UTS and σy
can be used in some demanded services. While Sb addition in- of the two solders which had been added Ni and Sb atoms were
creases the liquidus temperatures, shear strength and creep re- improved. With more Sb and Ni addition, the INNOLOT solder has
sistance [14–16], Ni addition enhances creep resistance due to better shear strength than the SAC-Bi solder at the same strain
formation of intermetallic phases [17,18]. Bi addition increases level and testing temperature. In addition, the experimental data
hardening and creep resistance but decrease melting temperature was used to identify the material parameters of the viscoplastic
[19]. On the other hand, some elements are rejected from the alloy constitutive law of Anand using a non-linear least square fitting
because of some disadvantages such as In increases cost and slight method and then a FEM simulation, based on the obtained Anand
toxicity, Cs is toxic, and Te is highly toxic and increases melting parameters, was performed to analyze the stress-strain response
temperature [20]. Other alloying elements can reduce the melting of an Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) under thermal cy-
temperature of the lead-free solders while concurrently improving cling. Eventually, the microstructures of some selected as-fabri-
its mechanical properties [21–24]. Studies’ results have confirmed cated and broken test specimens were analyzed by the use of a
that the new solders, which contain Sb and Bi, provide higher scanning electron microscope (SEM) to study the microstructure
reliability under high operating temperatures and high stress and fracture surface of the samples.
conditions. Among the newly-developed solder alloys,
Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu-3Bi and Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu-3Bi0.2Ni1.54Sb (hereinafter
termed SAC-Bi and INNOLOT, respectively) are chosen as the ma-
2. Experimental procedures
terial for interconnection in electronic packaging for the auto-
motive industry.
2.1. Materials
Up to date, with increasing requirements for smaller, less ex-
pensive, longer life expectancy and lead-free electronic devices, it is
The Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu-Bi3.0 (SAC-Bi) and Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu-Bi3.0-
desirable to know how solder joints behave mechanically in elec-
Ni0.2Sb1.54 (INNOLOT) solder alloys were used in this study. The
tronic packaging. Furthermore, it is well-known that solder joints in
chemical composition and the solidus and liquidus temperatures
electronic devices experience a wide range of strain rates and
of the two solder alloys compared with Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu (SAC387)
temperatures, and so it is important to understand how the me-
lead-free solder are shown in Table 1. It is obvious that the SAC-Bi
chanical behavior of solder alloys varies with changes in these
and INNOLOT solders were made by introducing minor additions
factors. For example, automotive electronics manufacturers are fa-
of Bismuth (Bi), Nickel (Ni) and Antimony (Sb) elements to SAC387
cing significant challenges in respect to the thermo-mechanical
reliability of solder joints. Solder joints display a much more com- solder. However, the amount of these alloys added in the INNOLOT
plex structure than a bulk material. In general, for reliability analysis is much more than that in the SAC-Bi, 1.54 wt% compared with
of solder joints, tensile and shear tests are conducted to investigate 0.001 wt% of Sb and 0.2 wt% compared with 0.001 wt% of Ni in the
the mechanical properties of lead-free solders. For tensile tests, INNOLOT and SAC-Bi, respectively. The effect of these addition
dog-bone and flat type specimens with different dimensions were alloys on the mechanical behavior and the microstructure char-
used. On the other hand, lap shear joint type specimens that have acteristics will be discussed in the next sections.
the same thickness as in real packaging were used to evaluate the
shearing behavior of the solders. Some previous studies have al- 2.2. Sample preparation
ready focused on the mechanical behavior of bulk and joint solders
[2,25–29]. The tensile and shear properties of such SAC based lead- The lap-shear technique has been widely used to evaluate
free solder alloys were reported in many studies [30–33]. Re- shear, creep and thermal fatigue behavior of solder joints for dif-
searches on the effects of strain rate and temperature on the me- ferent solder alloys. In this study, we proposed a method to fab-
chanical properties have been done on solders [28,34–38]. Also, ricate miniature single lap-shear joint specimens with dimensions
some studies have focused on the effect of alloy additions in the that represent the actual solder joints used in the automotive and
microstructure and on the mechanical behavior of solder joints microelectronic devices. The procedure for fabricating lap-shear
[3,15,17,18,31,39,40]. However, a literature review revealed that no joint specimens is done as follows:
known studies have been reported so far on the simultaneous effect
of Ni and Sb and testing conditions on the mechanical properties (1) A lap shear specimen is prepared by soldering two copper (Cu)
and microstructure of the SAC-Bi solder joint. substrates using the SAC-Bi or INNOLOT solder preform of 0.20
In this paper, two novel solder alloys, namely SAC-Bi and IN- mm thickness. The Cu substrates are previously cut with
NOLOT, which have begun to come into use in the electronic electrical discharge machining according to a specific geo-
packaging, were used to fabricate lap shear joint specimens. A metry, and then the surfaces for soldering are ground and
large number of shear tests were conducted at various strain rates polished using SiC papers. The impurities on the Cu substrates
ranging from 2.0 10 4 s 1 to 2.0 10 2 s 1 over a wide range of are removed by dipping them into 50% nitric acid for 20 s and
temperature - from room temperature to 125 °C - for comparison. then quickly in acetone;
Table 1.
Chemical compositions of the solder alloys (mass %), and the solidus and liquidus temperatures.
INNOLOT Bal. 3.80 1.54 0.70 3.00 0.003 o 0.001 0.005 0.2 218 206
SAC-Bi Bal. 3.80 o0.001 0.70 3.00 0.0015 o 0.001 0.005 o0.001 226 221
SAC387 Bal. 3.80 o0.001 0.70 o 0.0016 0.0005 0.0005 0.0008 o0.0002 217 220
Q.B. Tao et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 669 (2016) 403–416 405
(2) (ii) After air drying, solder flux is dispersed on the polished during the reflow process in the oven when they are heated up
area to enhance wetting when the solder sheet is applied; to 30 °C higher than the melting points of the solder materials
(3) The solder sheet, cut with the right dimensions, is sandwiched (226 °C for SAC-Bi and 218 °C for INNOLOT). The total reflow
between the two Cu substrates. The length of the solder joint time is 5.5 min which includes pre-heating, reflow and cooling
is ensured by placing two equal-thickness aluminum spacers steps. The duration at the melting temperature level is 75 s and
on either side of the solder; the cooling rate for these solders is determined at 3–4 °C/s ac-
(4) The joint is maintained in place using a specially designed fixture cording to the solder manufacturers’ recommendations.
made of aluminum plates. The aluminum fixture is used to (5) Finally, before testing, the solder joint samples are ground and
prevent any relative movement between the specimen's parts polished again with SiC papers. The different steps of the
Fig. 1. The procedure for fabricating lap shear joint specimens and their dimensions.
406 Q.B. Tao et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 669 (2016) 403–416
Table 2. F ⎛δ ⎞ δ
τ= , γ = tan−1⎜ ⎟ ≈
The shear test matrix.
A ⎝t ⎠ t (1)
Strain rate (s 1) 2.0 10 4 2.0 10 3 2.0 10 2 where F is the axial load, A is the soldering area, δ is the imposed
Room (25 °C) X X X
displacement and t is the joint thickness.
75 °C X X X
125 °C X X X
4. Results and discussion
Fig. 3. The global view of the lap shear joints and the IMC morphology: (a) SAC-Bi (b) INNOLOT.
408 Q.B. Tao et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 669 (2016) 403–416
Fig. 4. Cross-sectional SEM images after a shear test at strain rate of 2.0 10 4 s 1 and room temperature for SAC-Bi solder joint.
Fig. 5. Cross-sectional SEM images after a shear test at strain rate of 2.0 10 4 s 1 and room temperature for INNOLOT solder joint.
Q.B. Tao et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 669 (2016) 403–416 409
Fig. 6. Cross-sectional SEM images after a shear test at strain rate of 2.0 10 4 s 1 and 125 °C for SAC-Bi solder joint.
much smaller than Cu6Sn5 in the SAC-Bi joint (see also Fig. 3). This pattern can be classified into three types: ductile fracture inside
is because some of the Cu atoms were replaced by Ni atoms during the solder, brittle fracture in the solder or at the IMC interface, and
the crystallization of Cu6Sn5 due to the similar atom size between mixed-mode fracture which combines these two types. In this
Cu and Ni. Furthermore, Bi (white in color) was precipitated and paper, it is noted that the cracks propagate along the weakest path
appears in the Sn matrix in small and isolated clusters in both which is not similar in the SAC-Bi and INNOLOT solder joints.
solders as a Sn(Bi) solid solution and dispersion. As for Sb atoms in Figs. 4 and 5 show the fractography of the SAC-Bi and INNOLOT
the INNOLOT (1.54 wt%), they are in solution into the β − Sn ma- alloys after shear testing under the lowest strain rate
trix with Ag3(Sn, Sb) phases which not only contribute to suppress (2.0 10 4 s 1) at room temperature (25 °C) with different re-
the coarsening of Ag3Sn phase, but also provides solid solution gions of rupture areas. It can be seen that the Sn phase becomes
strenthening. elongated for both solder joints and the rupture was initiated in
A type of IMC is formed during the reflow process due to both cases inside the solder joint before reaching the interface
atomic migration between the Cu substrates and the molten solder with the IMC layer, resulting in a mixed-mode fracture (third
alloy at the interfaces. It is worth noticing that the Cu6Sn5 layer is type). In addition, some vacancies appear locally near the interface
formed in SAC-Bi (and (Cu, Ni)6Sn5 in INNOLOT) in the early stages with the IMC layers. These vacancies may originate from the Kir-
of the soldering process [40]. Then, the layer grows by consuming, kendall diffusion effect. Indeed, the growth of (Cu, Ni)6Sn5 (IN-
from the solder the Sn, Cu and Ni atoms leading to the formation NOLOT) and Cu6Sn5 (SAC-Bi) IMC layers, at the interface with the
of long dendrites. When the dendrites become too long, they move solder, strongly consumes the low amount of Cu contained in the
away from the IMC interfacial layer and formed some spalled solder which may lead to vacancies formation at the interface on
globular IMC phases that diffuse inside the joint [44]. the solder side, and to local mechanical weakening of the material.
Secondly, following the shear tests, the fractured micro- In the vicinity of the rupture area inside the solder joint, the Sn
structures have been analyzed. It is well known that the fracture phases originally globular (before mechanical test) have
410 Q.B. Tao et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 669 (2016) 403–416
Fig. 7. Cross-sectional SEM images after a shear test at strain rate of 2.0 10 4 s 1 and 125 °C for INNOLOT solder joint.
undergone an axial growth (long orientated phases) activated by 4.2. Shear test results and effect of alloy additions
the mechanical energy applied during the test. However, there are
some differences in the microstructures between the two solder Fig. 8(a) and (b) represent the shear stress vs. shear strain plots
joints after shearing as represented in the detailed views of the for SAC-Bi and INNOLOT lap shear solder joint specimens that
rupture areas of SAC-Bi and INNOLOT in Figs. 4 and 5, respectively. were tested at different strain rates and room temperature (25 °C).
In the case of the SAC-Bi, the rupture area can be decomposed into Fig. 9(a) and (b) show the plots of the shear stress vs. shear strain
three zones: (i) at the beginning, the rupture area in the solder of the two joints obtained for different temperatures ranging from
joint appears irregular, suggesting a ductile rupture behavior, (ii) 25 °C to 125 °C and at the lowest strain rate of 2.0 10 4 s 1. It
then the path follows the interface with the thinnest intermetallic can be seen that the mechanical properties of both solders are
layer, suggesting in this case a fragile transition in the behavior, greatly affected by the alloying elements, strain rates and tem-
peratures. In order to have a more complete view of the effect of
(iii) finally, the rupture area ends inside the solder joint with a
these factors at various testing conditions on the UTS and σy , these
more regular rupture area than initially, and so in a more brittle
latter quantities are plotted against testing temperature at differ-
mode. In the case of the INNOLOT, the rupture area is regular
ent strain rates in Figs. 10 and 11. As observed, the values of UTS
throughout the propagation, which is an indication of a more
and σy decrease with the increase of the temperature from room
brittle alloy.
temperature to 125 °C and increase with the decrease of the shear
Figs. 6 and 7 show the global and cross-sectional SEM images
strain rate from 2.0 10 4 s 1 to 2.0 10 2 s 1. Also, the alloys
after shear testing under the lowest strain rate of 2.0 10 4 s 1 at
considered here can sustain a large level of deformation before
the highest temperature of 125 °C for SAC-Bi and INNOLOT, re-
exhibiting gradual softening until rupture. The UTS are nearly
spectively. For both solder joints, the rupture occurs faster when
53.25 MPa and 57.96 MPa under the highest strain rate value of
temperature is increased and the Kirkendal voiding effect is more
2.0 10 2 s 1 and at room temperature for SAC-Bi and INNOLOT
important in the IMC layer. In the case of SAC-Bi, the irregular
solder joints, respectively. In contrast, the lowest shear strength
fracture path starts inside the solder joint and is then followed by values of 18.11 MPa for SAC-Bi and 21.15 MPa for INNOLOT were
a more regular fragile rupture (see the global image in Fig. 6). recorded for the lowest strain rate value of 2.0 10 4 s 1 and at
Furthermore, it is noted that the fine interdendritic Ag3Sn phases temperature of 125 °C. The variation tendency of the UTS and σy
coalesce to make lager Ag3Sn globular phases. Indeed, the rupture can be explained by the microstructural features that were already
seems to occur in the area where this transformation occurs. In the discussed above. The addition of a greater quantity of Ni and Sb
case of the INNOLOT solder joint, there is a fragile rupture at the clearly enhance the shear strength of the solders as exhibited by
IMC interfaces and the type of failure is similar with that of the INNOLOT. At as-reflowed condition, the shear strength of INNOLOT
test at room temperature under the same strain rate. The fragile solder joint (with addition of 1.54 wt% Sb and 0.2 wt% Ni), exceeds
rupture at the IMC interfaces could be due to Kirkendall voiding by 8.85% that of the original SAC-Bi alloy. In the INNOLOT solder
near Ag3(Sn, Sb) and (Cu, Ni)6Sn5 particles. However, the Ag3(Sn, joint, the formation of finer IMCs, as well as a much smaller grain
Sb) phases shape transformation is not observed in the rupture size of Ag3(Sn, Sb) and (Cu, Ni)6Sn5 particles, contribute to improve
area. the mechanical properties. Indeed, according to the investigations
Q.B. Tao et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 669 (2016) 403–416 411
Fig. 8. Shear stress-strain curves at different strain rates under room temperature Fig. 9. Shear stress-strain curves at different testing temperatures under the strain
for (a) SAC-Bi solder joint and (b) INNOLOT solder joint. rate of 2.0 10 4 s 1 for (a) SAC-Bi solder joint and (b) INNOLOT solder joint.
on this subject in [45], these fine strengthening precipitates can knowledge, no studies exist in literature with regard to the con-
effectively obstruct the dislocation movement initiated in Sn ma- stitutive creep laws of SAC-Bi and INNOLOT new solder alloys. In
trix which leads to the increase of the effective properties of the this work, the Anand parameters were identified for both alloys to
alloy. Therefore, the strength of INNOLOT benefits from the par-
represent their complex temperature- and strain rate-dependent
ticle hardening caused by Ag3(Sn, Sb) and (Cu, Ni)6Sn5, as well as
behavior.
some solid solution hardening and refinement by Sb elements.
The obtained data from the shear tests are usually converted
These are the main evidences to account for the improved strength
into equivalent tensile stress-strain curves on which the material
of INNOLOT compared to SAC-Bi.
parameter identification is performed. Specifically, the tensile
4.3. Identification of the viscoplastic properties of the solder alloys quantities (stress and strain) are estimated based on (Von Mises
criterion):
In literature, numerous material models have been presented 1
to describe the elastic, elastic-plastic, creep and viscoplastic be- σ= 3τ , ε= γ
3 (2)
haviors [34,46–48]. The most popular model for describing the
viscoplastic behavior of solders is the Anand model [49]. Firstly, it where σ , ε are the calculated tensile stress and strain, respectively,
does not require an explicit yield condition nor a loading/un- and τ , γ are the shear stress and strain measured during the shear
loading criterion. It also uses a single scalar internal state variable tests. The details of the Anand model can be found in [49]. The first
and allows an easy identification procedure based on the mono- differential equation of th eAnand model relates the inelastic
tonic or creep tests which can be performed at different strain strain rate to the stress:
rates, applied creep loads and temperatures. Finally, the Anand
1
model provides rather good estimations based on a unified law for dεin ⎡ ⎛ ⎛ σ ⎞⎞⎤ m
= A⎢ sinh⎜ ξ ⎜ ⎟⎟⎥ exp( −Q /RT )
the inelastic strain in comparison with some decoupled models for dt ⎣ ⎝ ⎝ s ⎠⎠⎦ (3)
plasticity and creep deformations [50]. Table 3 indicates the ma-
terial parameters of the Anand constitutive law for different lead- The model consists of nine material parameters. The function
free solders and conventional SnPb alloys. However, to our lsqcurvefit in the Matlab commercial tool was used due to its
412 Q.B. Tao et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 669 (2016) 403–416
Fig. 10. Dependence of UTS on strain rate at different testing temperatures for
(a) SAC-Bi solder joint and (b) INNOLOT solder joint. Fig. 11. Dependence of yield stress on strain rate at different testing temperatures
for (a) SAC-Bi solder joint and (b) INNOLOT solder joint.
1/ (1 − a)
⎡
(
σ = σ * − ⎢⎣ σ * − cs0 )
(1 − a )
( −a
+ (a − 1) (ch0)(σ *) )ε ⎤⎥⎦
p ,
4.4.1. Module geometrical model
Fig. 14 shows a schematic of the basic IGBT structure and Ta-
1 ⎡⎛ ε˙ Q ⎞m⎤ ble 5 indicates the dimensions (length, width and thickness) of all
p
c= sinh−1⎢⎜ e RT ⎟ ⎥ components in the module. In this type of module, there are two
ξ ⎢⎣⎝ A ⎠ ⎥⎦ (5) solder layers, one for the die attachment (upper layer) and one for
Q.B. Tao et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 669 (2016) 403–416 413
Table 3.
Anand material parameters for several solder alloys.
Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu 24,300 8710 5.8 0.183 65.3 0.019 3541.2 1.9 39.5
Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu0.03Ce 21,200 8026 5 0.130 57.6 0.0175 4352.6 2.3 28.5
Sn3.5Ag 177,016 85,459 7 0.207 52.4 0.0177 27,782 1.6 0.0673T þ 28.6
Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu 15.773 9883 1.0673 0.3686 3.1505 0.0352 1076.9 1.6832 3.2992
Sn1.0Ag0.5Cu 3.773 8076 0.9951 0.4454 3.5833 0.0120 4507.5 2.1669 2.3479
Sn3.0Ag0.5Cu 717.260 6067 2 0.130 29.0 0.0436 14,560 2.22 2.45
Sn3.5Ag 344.716 6538 3 0.143 26.0 0.0447 23,241 1.46 0.65
Sn0.7Cu 764.166 5837 2 0.123 26.4 0.0430 11,656 2.33 4.43
Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu 107.65 7619 59.36 4.03 86.28 0.0046 9002 1.30 22.64
Sn4.0Ag0.5Cu 325 10,561 10 0.32 42.1 0.02 800,000 2.57 20
Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu 2.23 8900 6 0.182 73.81 0.018 3321.15 1.82 39.09
Sn37Pb 6220 6525 3.33 0.27 36.86 0.022 60,599 1.7811 3.1522
Sn8.5Sb 2.23E8 13816.8 13.85 0.417 76.0 0.01 291,215 2.34 48.15
Sn92.5Pb2.5Ag 105,200 11,010 7 0.241 41.63 0.002 1432 1.3 33.07
Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu0.8Zn 23,500 8500 5.6 0.163 65.9 0.0186 3642.5 2.1 34.1
Sn3.0Ag0.5Cu 17.994 9970 0.35 0.153 2.536 0.028 1525.98 1.69 2.15
Table 4.
The Anand model parameters determined for SAC-Bi and INNOLOT from stress-strain data.
the substrate to base plate attachment (bottom layer). 4.4.3. Numerical results
The Abaqus commercial software was used to create the FEM Fig. 17 shows the FEM results for the accumulated inelastic
model of the IGBT module. Fig. 15 (a) and (b) show the geometrical energy in the two solder layers based on the Anand model for the
model and the finite element meshing. There are 76,592 nodes and SAC-Bi and INNOLOT alloys, respectively. The most critical regions
59,100 elements for the complete meshing of the assembly. are located at the corners of the solder layers which are near the
The behaviors of both solder layers in the module (taken con- interfaces with the DBC substrate and the base plate. The max-
secutively as SAC-Bi and INNOLOT for comparison) are taken as imum Von Mises stress of the INNOLOT solder joint is higher than
viscoplastic and following the same Anand law identified pre- that of the SAC-Bi solder joint, 52.46 MPA and 47.71 MPa, respec-
viously. Concerning the properties of the materials used for the tively. Fig. 18 represents the accumulated plastic strains at the
other components (silicon chip, copper, aluminum and epoxy), critical locations. It is observed that the accumulated plastic strain
they are treated as linear elastic materials and taken as dependent in the INNOLOT solder joint is lower than that of the SAC-Bi solder
on temperature. The treatment of creep in the finite element cal- joint, which shows that the INNOLOT alloy, that is stiffer, allows, in
culations is done with the help of a Fortran subroutine that we return, less energy dissipation during its solicitation. This suggests
have implemented in Abaqus. that INNOLOT could behave more efficiently under fatigue if the
energy-based model of Morrow or the plastic strain-based model
4.4.2. Profile of the thermal loading of Coffin-Manson were considered to estimate lifetime of the alloy.
It is known that during service, the power module is subjected These models relate indeed the material lifetime to the plastic
to both active (power cycling) and passive cycles (variation of strain amplitude or the dissipated energy, following (in the case of
ambient temperature). However, in this study the focus is put on the Morrow law) the relationship ΔW ⋅N m f = C where ΔW is the
the effects of passive thermal cycles which are characterized by far inelastic strain energy density in the stabilized cycle, Nf is the
higher temperature variations than those resulting from current number of cycles to failure, and m and C represent material
circulation. In terms of deformation, strains and stresses which parameters to be identified. Fatigue characterization of the mate-
appear in the solder material under this type of loading (thermal rials was beyond the goals of the present work but these pre-
shocks) are expected to be elevated and thus need to be correctly liminary FE simulations are the first steps for future investigations
evaluated for reliability assessment. The temperature cycles ap- on the alloys fatigue behaviors based on simulations. Such a study
plied in the simulation are in the range of 10 °C to 80 °C which is would require cyclic testing of specimens for parameter identifi-
similar to the operating temperature in devices as shown in Fig. 16. cation useful for the lifetime prediction models.
The whole thermal cycle includes ramp-up, dwell and ramp-down.
The dwell period is 15 min at the peak of each cycle, while the
heating and cooling rates are 2.33 °C/min and 1.78 °C/min, re- 5. Conclusions
spectively. This thermal cycle profile is taken to be representative
of the constraints that the commercially available IGBT modules In this paper, shear tests were conducted on joint specimens
have to experience in their lifetime. based on two new lead-free solder alloys, SAC-Bi and INNOLOT, to
414 Q.B. Tao et al. / Materials Science & Engineering A 669 (2016) 403–416
Fig. 13. Relations between inelastic strain and stress: comparison between ex-
perimental results and Anand model fits at three strain rates for the temperature
25 °C.
Fig. 12. Plots of the saturation stress versus steady-state strain rate from shear
tests: experimental results and Anand model predictions.
Fig. 15. Geometrical model of the electronic assembly (a) and its meshing (b).
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Dr K.L. Tan and Dr J.M. Morelle
from VALEO company, France for providing us with the solder
materials. This research was supported by the French National
Research Agency ANR and VALEO (Grant no. ANR-12-CHIN-0004).
The authors are also grateful to F. Mourgues for machining the
mechanical components of the fixture holding the substrates with
Fig. 16. Thermal cycling profile.
the solder during reflow.
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