Effect of Isothermal Aging on the Long-Term Reliability of Fine-Pitch Sn-Ag-Cu and Sn-Ag Solder Interconnects With and Without Board-Side Ni Surface Finish

The combined effects on long-term reliability of isothermal aging and chemically balanced or unbalanced surface finish have been investigated for fine-pitch ball grid array packages with Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu (SAC305) (wt.%) and Sn-3.5Ag (SnAg) (wt.%) solder ball interconnects. Two different printed circuit board surface finishes were selected to compare the effects of chemically balanced and unbalanced structure interconnects with and without board-side Ni surface finish. NiAu/solder/Cu and NiAu/solder/NiAu interconnects were isothermally aged and thermally cycled to evaluate long-term thermal fatigue reliability. Weibull plots of the combined effects of each aging condition and each surface finish revealed lifetime for NiAu/SAC305/Cu was reduced by approximately 40% by aging at 150A degrees C; less degradation was observed for NiAu/SAC305/NiAu. Further reduction of characteristic life-cycle number was observed for NiAu/SnAg/NiAu joints. Microstructure was studied, focusing on its evolution near the board and package-side interfaces. Different mechanisms of aging were apparent under the different joint configurations. Their effects on the fatigue life of solder joints are discussed.