Effects of Rare-Earth Addition on Properties and Microstructure of Lead-Free Solder Balls

In the present work, lead-free solder balls were manufactured by a uniform droplet spray (UDS) method. The solder used to produce solder balls was based on the Sn-3.8Ag-0.7Cu alloy. Different amounts of cerium-based mixed rare-earth (RE) elements were added into the Sn-3.8Ag-0.7Cu solder alloy in order to examine the effects of small amounts of RE additions on the physical properties, microstructure, and surface smoothness of the solder balls. Results show that a small amount of RE addition has no obvious effect on the melting temperature, but it decreases the nucleation undercooling degree. Moreover, a small amount of RE addition (<0.25 wt.%) can improve the surface smoothness of the solder balls. However, when the RE was added up to 0.5 wt.%, the surface smoothness of the solder balls was deteriorated. From observations of the microstructure of the solder balls, it is obvious that the RE addition affects solidification behavior, and as a result, the surface smoothness of the solder balls.