The Effects of Gallium Additions on the Microstructure of Lead-Free Solder Materials: A Short Review

This paper reviews the results of gallium (Ga) additions on the properties of Lead (Pb)-free solder alloys in terms of the solderability, microstructure and mechanical properties. Throughout the review, it is proven that when 0.5% of Ga is added, the shear force is improved and the grain size of the solder has refined remarkably. Besides, the addition of Ga has significantly suppressed the interfacial intermetallic compounds (IMCs) formation at solder/Copper substrate interface. This is caused by the formation of the Cu2Ga phase around the joint surface during solidification which decrease the growth rate of the IMCs layer. In fact, the enhancement in the mechanical aspect can also be affiliated with the improvement of the IMCs of the solder due to the addition of Ga. Moreover, Ga element also added to act as solid solution strengthening in β-Sn matrix. Furthermore, the addition of Ga element definitely decreases the melting temperature of Pb-free solder in Sn-0.7Cu Pb-free solder. As Ga addition also improve the oxidation resistance and reduce the surface tension of the solder, thus the solderability of the Pb-free solder alloys is slightly improved.