Interfacial reaction of Sn-1.5Ag-2.0Zn low-silver lead-free solder with oriented copper

High density packaging technology reduces the pad size and the number of grains contained in the pad. When the polycrystalline pad turns into a single crystal pad, the grain orientation has an important impact on the formation of the intermetallic compound (IMC) at the interface. The growth of IMC at the interface between the solder and the single-crystal copper substrate is investigated by selecting the prospective Sn-1.5Ag-2Zn as the solder alloy. Sn-1.5Ag-2.0Zn lead-free solder joints soldered with single crystal (111) copper substrate and polycrystalline red copper substrate are reflowed at 250 °C for 5 min. Samples are subsequently aged at 160 °C. The uneven scallop like Cu6Sn5 IMC layer grows rapidly when the alloy solder contacts with the copper substrate. The Cu6Sn5 grain size formed on the surface of single crystal copper is larger than that of polycrystalline copper. Single crystal copper has no grain boundary to block atomic diffusion, which affects grain nucleation and growth. The growth rate of Cu6Sn5 formed by alloy solder and the single crystal (111) copper solder joint after aging treatment at 160 °C for 20 h is about twice that of the polycrystalline copper solder joint. Then it grows slowly with the increase of aging treatment time. The thick layer Cu6Sn5 breaks due to crack diffusion after 600 h of aging treatment, and the thickness of IMC remains at 3.5 μm. Cu5Zn8 generated at the solder and polycrystalline copper solder joint during aging treatment acts as a barrier layer, preventing the solder from contacting the copper substrate and inhibiting the formation of Cu6Sn5. Cu5Zn8 is broken and decomposed after 300 h of aging treatment, and Cu6Sn5 grows rapidly after the barrier layer disappeared. The thickness of Cu6Sn5 is about 2.8 μm. The thickness of IMC of solder joint on single crystal copper is 0.7 μm more than that on polycrystalline copper. After aging treatment, the IMC formed at the interface between alloy solder and single crystal copper has better compactness and basically no pores, while there are obvious pores between IMC grains at the interface between alloy solder and polycrystalline copper, which can predict that the soldering quality of the interface between alloy solder and single crystal copper is better. This will provide application prospects for solder joint interface reliability research.