Thermal cycling reliability of lead‐free chip resistor solder joints

Abstract

The solder joint reliability of ceramic chip resistors assembled to laminate substrates has been a long time concern for systems exposed to harsh environments. In this work, the thermal cycling reliability of several 2512 chip resistor lead‐free solder joint configurations has been investigated. In an initial study, a comparison has been made between the solder joint reliabilities obtained with components fabricated with both tin‐lead and pure tin solder terminations. In the main portion of the reliability testing, two temperature ranges (−40‐125°C and −40‐150°C) and five different solder alloys have been examined. The investigated solders include the normal eutectic Sn‐Ag‐Cu (SAC) alloy recommended by earlier studies (95.5Sn‐3.8Ag‐0.7Cu), and three variations of the lead‐free ternary SAC alloy that include small quaternary additions of bismuth and indium to enhance fatigue resistance.

Citation

Suhling, J.C., Gale, H.S., Wayne Johnson, R., Nokibul Islam, M., Shete, T., Lall, P., Bozack, M.J., Evans, J.L., Seto, P., Gupta, T. and Thompson, J.R. (2004), "Thermal cycling reliability of lead‐free chip resistor solder joints", Soldering & Surface Mount Technology, Vol. 16 No. 2, pp. 77-87. https://doi.org/10.1108/09540910410537354