Tag Archives: Greg Henshall

Some Consensus on SAC

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Back in November, I posted comments on lead-free availability. In this post, I mentioned that I chaired a session at SMTAI on Alternate Alloys. At this session, Greg Henshall presented a paper on the  Low Silver BGA Sphere Metallurgy Project. This paper was a collaborative effort of six companies.  In addition, Richard Coyle presented an overview of the work of three companies titled “The Effect of Silver Content on the Solder Joint Reliability of a Pb-free PBGA Package.” Both projects evaluated Pb-free thermal cycle reliability as a function of silver content and compared the results to SnPb reliability.

Both papers concluded that, as far as 0oC to 100 oC thermal cycle reliability is concerned, in their experiments

SnPb < SAC105 < SAC305 < SAC405

Coyle’s presentation summed it up best: “Each of the SAC alloys outperformed the SnPb eutectic alloy in every test, including the long, 60 min. dwell time test. This tends to diminish the argument that SAC is less reliable than SnPb.”

To be clear, it was two papers by two different groups coming to the same conclusion. It would probably be a stretch to say that the conclusions of either group were “almost unique”.

Denny Fritz responded to this blog post with this point: “No one I know will dispute your ranking of SAC better than SnPb solder using the commercial temperature cycle Henshall uses – 0C to 100C. But, harsh environment electronics have to perform to either -40C or -55C, and most use a top end cycling temperature of 125C. IT IS IN THAT WIDE THERMAL CYCLE TESTING THAT SnPb outperforms SAC solders.”

Denny’s point is well- taken. I believe it can be said that SAC alloys have demonstrated acceptable reliability in commercial, non harsh environments (i.e., mobile phones, PCs, consumer electronics, etc.). However, it cannot be said that acceptable reliability for SAC has been established for military (RoHS exempt) and harsh (i.e., automobile engine compartment) environments.

A short time ago, Werner Engelmaier wrote an article on this topic (Global SMT, vol. 11, no. 1, January 2011, pp. 38-40), referring to my post he said: “Of course, ‘Dr. Ron’ selectively picks data agreeing with the point of view he held from the inception of the Pb-ban under RoHS on a plot with an expanded x-axis overemphasizing the differences and supporting a solder joint reliability ranking of SnPb < SAC105 < SAC305 < SAC405.”

Ouch! My motives were not quite so nefarious, I chaired a session and wanted to share the conclusions.

However, Werner makes good points in his article, data exist disagreeing with this reliability ranking and he suggests some good points on how to conduct reliability tests so that comparisons can be made between data sets.

In reading some of his other articles, I was delighted to find that we actually agree on the state of lead-free reliability in thermal cycle testing. Here is a statement of his circa 2008 (Global SMT, vol 8., no. 8, August 2008, pp. 46-48.): “It has been 2 years since the infamous ban of Pb-solders under RoHS. What have we learned? For solder joints, no dramatic differences in reliability are apparent. The data bases for LF-solders have grown, the favored LF-solders might be shifting, and no reliability model exists as of yet. Nevertheless, progress has been made.”

Best Wishes,

Dr. Ron

On Pb-Free Reliability and its Doubters

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I was at SMTAI (Surface Mount Technology Association International) in late September. As mentioned, I chaired a session on Alternative Alloys. At this session, Greg Henshall presented a paper on the Low Silver BGA Sphere Metallurgy Project. This paper was a collaborative effort of six companies. In addition, Richard Coyle presented an overview of the work of three companies titled “The Effect of Silver Content on the Solder Joint Reliability of a Pb-free PBGA Package.” Both projects evaluated lead-free thermal cycle reliability as a function of silver content and compared the results to SnPb reliability.

Both papers concluded that as far as thermal cycle reliability is concerned

SnPb < SAC105 < SAC305 < SAC405

Coyle’s paper summed it best:

Each of the SAC alloys outperformed the SnPb eutectic alloy in every test, including the long, 60 min. dwell time test. This tends to diminish the argument that SAC is less reliable than SnPb. (See Coyle’s figure. Data curves to the right are more reliable.)

Henshall’s paper also showed that the addition of dopants, to improve shock resistance, in SAC105 does not reduce thermal cycle life.

So, it appears, at this time, that, from a thermal cycle and drop shock perspective, it is looking more and more like SAC-based solders out perform SnPb solders in these two reliability arenas.

At the end of the session a noted lead-free curmudgeon came over to introduce himself.  We have had a jovial disagreement on several blogs, etc., in the past re: lead-free status and issues, but had not met in person. I should mention that this person is a college graduate, a former technical leader at several influential technological companies, and he owns a PE license. I asked him what he now thought about lead-free reliability after hearing the talks. He claimed that he is a little less likely to think that Pbfree reliability is a disaster. He still refuses to purchase lead-free products. He buys old units (pre-2006) on eBay.

I mentioned that over $2 trillion of electronics has been placed in the field since 2006 with no unusual reliability issues. I then went on to say that a RoHS-compliant product is much more likely to fail due to a non-RoHS related issue. He did not disagree. So then I asked him why he won’t use RoHS compliant electronics. His answer: “I just don’t trust them.”

Cheers,

Dr. Ron