Thermal stability of high temperature Pb-free solder interconnect characterised by in-situ electron microscopy

The present investigation aimed to use in-situ heating experiment in a transmission electron microscope (TEM) to live characterize the thermal stability of a Cu/Ni-W-P interlayer/ZnAl solder interconnect. It demonstrated the TEM was able to detect live intermetallic compounds (IMCs) growth during heating. In addition, stress building up was evidenced by the progressive evolving of the dislocations at the interface between NiW-P interlayer and the ZnAl Solder. However, due to the μm to nm scale of specimens' dimensions required for electron microscopy, the sample preparation and data interpretation remains a challenge.