A Comparative Study of Soldering Temperatures and Materials on the Reliability of Photovoltaic Modules

2012 ◽  
Vol 562-564 ◽  
pp. 188-191
Author(s):  
Keh Moh Lin ◽  
Yang Hsien Lee ◽  
Wen Yeong Huang ◽  
Po Chun Hsu ◽  
Chin Yang Huang ◽  
...  

To find out the important factors which decisively affect the soldering quality of photovoltaic modules, solar cells were soldered under different conditions (different temperatures, PbSn vs. SnAgCu solder, manual vs. semi-automatic). Experimental results show that the soldering quality of PbSn under 350°C in the semi-automatic soldering process was quite stable while the soldering quality of lead-free solder was generally unacceptable in the manual or semi-automatic process under different temperatures. This result indicates that the soldering process with lead-free solder still needs to be further improved. It was also found that most cracks were formed on the interface between the solder and the silver paste and then expanded outwards.

Author(s):  
Claire Ryan ◽  
Jeff M. Punch ◽  
Bryan Rodgers ◽  
Greg Heaslip ◽  
Shane O’Neill ◽  
...  

A European Union ban on lead in most electrical and electronic equipment will be imposed as of July 1st 2006. The ban, along with market pressures, means that manufacturers must transfer from a tin-lead soldering process to a lead-free process. In this paper the implications on the surface mount (SMT) soldering process are presented. A set of experiments was conducted to investigate the screen-printing and reflow steps of the SMT process using a tin-silver-copper (95.5Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu) solder and a baseline of standard tin-lead (63Sn37Pb). 10×10 arrays of micro Ball Grid Array (micro-BGA) components mounted on 8-layer FR4 printed wiring boards (PWBs) were used. The screen-printing experiment addressed the deposition of the solder paste on the board. The parameters used in the investigation were print speed, squeegee pressure, snap-off distance, separation speed and cleaning interval, with the responses being measurements of paste height and volume. Optimum screen-printer settings were determined which give adequate paste volume and height and a good print definition. The reflow experiment investigated the following parameters of the temperature profile: preheat, soak, peak and cool down temperatures, and conveyor speed. The resulting solder joints were evaluated using cross-section analysis and x-ray techniques in order to determine the presence of defects. A mechanical fatigue test was also carried out in order to compare the strength of the solder joints. The overall quality of the lead-free solder joints was determined from these tests and compared to that of tin-lead. The outcome is a set of manufacturing guidelines for transferring to lead-free solder including optimum screen-printer and reflow oven settings for use with an SnAgCu solder.


2010 ◽  
Vol 24 (01n02) ◽  
pp. 267-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. D. HAN ◽  
H. Y. JING ◽  
S. M. L. NAI ◽  
L. Y. XU ◽  
C. M. TAN ◽  
...  

In the present study, nanoindentation studies of the 95.8 Sn -3.5 Ag -0.7 Cu lead-free solder were conducted over a range of maximum loads from 20 mN to 100 mN, under a constant ramp rate of 0.05 s-1. The indentation scale dependence of creep behavior was investigated. The results revealed that the creep rate, creep strain rate and indentation stress are all dependent on the indentation depth. As the maximum load increased, an increasing trend in the creep rate was observed, while a decreasing trend in creep strain rate and indentation stress were observed. On the contrary, for the case of stress exponent value, no trend was observed and the values were found to range from 6.16 to 7.38. Furthermore, the experimental results also showed that the creep mechanism of the lead-free solder is dominated by dislocation climb.


2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chun Sean Lau ◽  
C.Y. Khor ◽  
D. Soares ◽  
J.C. Teixeira ◽  
M.Z. Abdullah

Purpose The purpose of the present study was to review the thermo-mechanical challenges of reflowed lead-free solder joints in surface mount components (SMCs). The topics of the review include challenges in modelling of the reflow soldering process, optimization and the future challenges in the reflow soldering process. Besides, the numerical approach of lead-free solder reliability is also discussed. Design/methodology/approach Lead-free reflow soldering is one of the most significant processes in the development of surface mount technology, especially toward the miniaturization of the advanced SMCs package. The challenges lead to more complex thermal responses when the PCB assembly passes through the reflow oven. The virtual modelling tools facilitate the modelling and simulation of the lead-free reflow process, which provide more data and clear visualization on the particular process. Findings With the growing trend of computer power and software capability, the multidisciplinary simulation, such as the temperature and thermal stress of lead-free SMCs, under the influenced of a specific process atmosphere can be provided. A simulation modelling technique for the thermal response and flow field prediction of a reflow process is cost-effective and has greatly helped the engineer to eliminate guesswork. Besides, simulated-based optimization methods of the reflow process have gained popularity because of them being economical and have reduced time-consumption, and these provide more information compared to the experimental hardware. The advantages and disadvantages of the simulation modelling in the reflow soldering process are also briefly discussed. Practical implications This literature review provides the engineers and researchers with a profound understanding of the thermo-mechanical challenges of reflowed lead-free solder joints in SMCs and the challenges of simulation modelling in the reflow process. Originality/value The unique challenges in solder joint reliability, and direction of future research in reflow process were identified to clarify the solutions to solve lead-free reliability issues in the electronics manufacturing industry.


Author(s):  
Bryan Rodgers ◽  
Jeff Punch ◽  
Claire Ryan ◽  
Finbarr Waldron ◽  
Liam Floyd

A comparative evaluation of the leading lead-free solder candidate (95.5Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu) and traditional tin-lead solder (63Sn37Pb) under thermal cycling conditions was carried out. A test vehicle consisting of four daisy chained 10×10 array 0.8mm pitch plastic micro ball grid arrays (microBGA) mounted on an 8-layer FR4 printed wiring board was designed. The board finish was organic solder preservative (OSP) for the lead-free devices and hot air solder levelled (HASL) in the case of the eutectic devices. An event detector was used to monitor the continuity of each daisy chain during accelerated temperature cycling, where the test vehicles were cycled with a ramp rate of approximately 3°C per minute from −40°C to 125°C, with 10-minute dwells and a total cycle time of 2 hours 10 minutes. Results to date plotted using a Weibull distribution indicate that the SnAgCu solder is more reliable under these conditions. Experiments were also carried out on large-scale lead-free solder specimens to determine the parameters required for the Anand viscoplasticity model. The Anand model was then implemented in finite element analysis using ANSYS®, where the submodelling technique was employed to determine the viscoplastic work per thermal cycle for each solder joint along the package diagonal. Schubert’s fatigue life model was used to predict the number of cycles to failure of each joint, although it should be noted that the necessary model parameters for the may need to be calibrated. Results indicate that the joint under the die edge is likely to fail first and that the SnAgCu solder is more fatigue resistant. The numerical predictions underestimate the fatigue life in both cases.


2006 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 1095-1103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weimin Xiao ◽  
Yaowu Shi ◽  
Yongping Lei ◽  
Zhidong Xia ◽  
Fu Guo

Author(s):  
Jie Gong ◽  
I. Charles Ume

A novel laser ultrasound and interferometer inspection system has been successfully applied to detect solder joint defects including missing, misaligned, open, and cracked solder bumps in flip chips, land grid array packages and chip capacitors. This system uses a pulsed Nd:YAG laser to induce ultrasound in the chip packages in the thermoelastic regime; it then measures the transient out-of-plane displacement response on the package surface using a laser interferometer. The quality of solder bumps is evaluated by analyzing the transient responses. In this paper, the application of this system is expanded to evaluate quality of lead-free solder bumps in ball grid array (BGA) packages; specifically BGA packages with poor wetting are used as test vehicles. Poor wetting not only decreases the mechanical strength of interconnection at the interface between the solder bumps and substrate, but also increases electrical resistance, which is a reliability issue. Causes of poor wetting vary from materials themselves to manufacturing process. Here, poor wetting of solder bumps were intentionally created by using an improper reflow profile. The transient out-of-plane displacement responses from these packages were compared with the responses from defect-free samples. Solder bumps with poor wetting were distinguished from the normal solder bumps by unusual correlation coefficient. Then, laser ultrasound inspection results are also compared with results from X-ray inspection and continuity test. Finally, the cross-section images were used to further confirm the existence of the poor wetting in samples with unusual correlation coefficient. It can be concluded that this laser-ultrasound system is capable of identifying the presence of poor wetting in BGA packages.


2015 ◽  
Vol 1120-1121 ◽  
pp. 456-461
Author(s):  
Xiao Le Feng ◽  
Jie Yang

The wettability of Sn-0.3Ag-0.7Cu-xPr solders on Cu substrate was determined by the wetting balance method, and the mechanical properties of Sn-0.3Ag-0.7Cu-xPr joints were investigated. The result showed that the wetting force of Sn-0.3Ag-0.7Cu-xPr is increased and the wetting time is decreased with the Pr content addition. Good wettability of Sn-Ag-Cu-Pr is obtained with around 0·05%-0·1% (mass fraction) Pr. When measured at 260°C, the wetting force of of SnAgCu solder was increased by 5.0% with 0.1%Pr and the wetting time of SnAgCu solder was descreased by 16.9%.The mechanical properties of soldered joints are enhanced with the addition of Pr, and the soldered joints possess the peak values of shear stress when the Pr addition is about 0.05% in Sn-Ag-Cu-Pr solder joint.


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