Printing morphology and rheological characteristics of lead-free Sn-3Ag-0.5Cu (SAC) solder pastes.

Abstract

Solder paste plays a crucial role as the widely used joining material in surface mount technology (SMT). The understanding of its behaviour and properties is essential to ensure the proper functioning of the electronic assemblies. The composition of the solder paste is known to be directly related to its rheological behaviour. This paper provides a brief overview of the solder paste behaviour of four different solder paste formulations, stencil printing processes, and techniques to characterize solder paste behaviour adequately. The solder pastes are based on the Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu alloy, are different in their particle size, metal content and flux system. The solder pastes are characterized in terms of solder particle size and shape as well as the rheological characterizations such as oscillatory sweep tests, viscosity, and creep recovery behaviour of pastes.