Creep deformation characteristics of tin and tin-based electronic solder alloys

Creep deformation characteristics of pure tin, and Sn-3.5Ag and Sn-5Sb electronic solder alloys, have been studied at various temperatures between ambient and 473 K (homologous temperature 0.58 to 0.85). Power-law relationships between strain rate and stress were observed at most of the temperatures. The stress exponent (n = 7.6, 5.0, and 5.0) and activation energy (Q^sub c^ = 60.3, 60.7, and 44.7 kJ/mol) values were obtained in the case of tin, Sn-3.5Ag, and Sn-5Sb respectively. Based on n and Q^sub c^ values, it is suggested that the rate controlling creep-deformation mechanism is dislocation climb controlled by lattice diffusion in pure tin and Sn-3.5Ag alloy, and viscous glide controlled by pipe diffusion in Sn-5Sb alloy. The results on Sn-3.5Ag bulk material are compared with the initial results on solder bump arrays. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]