Reliability of SnAgCu/SnAgCuCe solder joints with different heights for electronic packaging

Finite element simulation and experiments were used to analyze the reliability of SnAgCu/SnAgCuCe solder joints with different heights. With the increase of height of solder joints, the tensile strength of SnAgCu and SnAgCuCe solder joints drops significantly. With the same height, the tensile strength of SnAgCuCe solder joints show enhanced reliability comparing with that of SnAgCu solder joints. The heights of lead-free solder joints can markedly influence the failure modes of SnAgCu/SnAgCuCe solder joints, three models [intermetallic compound (IMC), solder/IMC, solder] can be demonstrated with the variation of height. Based on finite element methods, it is found the maximum stress concentrated location show a relationship with heights of solder joints, smaller height can keep the high reliability of solder joints.