Voiding Control at Preform Soldering

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Abstract Assembly of components with large pads such as high brightness LEDs or high power dies often is soldered with preform, mainly due to a lower voiding and lower flux fume generated when compared with solder paste, and also because of its better thermal and electrical conductivity compared with Ag epoxy. This is particularly true when the joints are to be formed within a cavity. Although lower than solder paste, the voiding in the solder joint is still a concern for high reliability and high performance devices. In this study, voiding at high power die attach reflow soldering using preform was simulated with the use of Cu coupons to mimic both die and substrate. The voiding behavior was studied by varying solder alloy type, flux quantity coated on preform, oxidation extent of Cu coupon, reflow peak temperature, and weight applied on the top of simulated die. For SAC305, with increasing weight, the bondline thickness (BLT) maintained constant initially due to solder surface tension, then reduced rapidly at weight higher than 50 g. The voiding area % increased with decreasing BLT first, then levelled off at lower BLT, although the voiding volume decreased with decreasing BLT due to constrained lamellar solder flow. Voiding was the highest for SAC305, followed by 57Bi42Sn1Ag, with 63Sn37Pb being the lowest, and increased with increasing oxidation of Cu coupon. With increasing flux quantity, voiding increased for SAC305 and 63Sn37Pb, but decreased for 57Bi42Sn1Ag, mainly due to the different temperature range at reflow. Voiding increased with increasing reflow temperature up to 170°C due to increasing vaporization, decreased with further increase in reflow temperature up to 210°C due to increasing flux activity, and increased again at temperature beyond 210°C due to rapid flux outgassing.