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D.M.Haspel et al - THE EFFECT OF DIFFERENT POST-ELECTROPLATING SURFACE MODIFICATION TREATMENTS ON TIN WHISKER GROWTH.pdf (1.57 MB)

The effect of different post-electroplating surface modification treatments on tin whisker growth

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journal contribution
posted on 2019-03-05, 11:28 authored by D. Haspel, Mark Ashworth, Geoffrey Wilcox, Xujin BaoXujin Bao, Roger J. Mortimer
There are very few studies that have investigated directly the effect of an oxide film on tin whisker growth, since the ‘cracked oxide theory’ was proposed by Tu in 1994. The current study has investigated the effect of both a molybdate conversion coating and a tungstate conversion coating on tin whisker growth from Sn-Cu electrodeposits on Cu, and compared it with that from an electrochemically-formed oxide produced from a potassium bicarbonate-potassium carbonate electrolyte. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) has been used to investigate the effect of both immersion time and applied potential on the thickness and composition of the oxide film. The XPS studies show that the oxide film formed using either of the conversion coating baths is significantly thicker than that produced from the potassium bicarbonate-potassium carbonate bath. Initial observations suggest that both the tungstate-based conversion coatings and the molybdate-based conversion coatings significantly reduce whisker growth by over 80 % for all conversion coating systems compared with a native air-formed oxide and provide improved mitigation compared with the electrochemically formed oxides previously investigated.

Funding

The authors would like to thank both the UK EPSRC Innovative Electronics Manufacturing Research Centre for funding this research through the WHISKERMIT programme and the Loughborough University Materials Research School.

History

School

  • Aeronautical, Automotive, Chemical and Materials Engineering

Department

  • Materials

Published in

Transactions of the IMF

Volume

97

Issue

3

Pages

129 - 139

Citation

HASPEL, D. ... et al, 2019. The effect of different post-electroplating surface modification treatments on tin whisker growth. Transactions of the IMF, 97 (3), pp.129-139.

Publisher

Taylor and Francis © Institute of Materials Finishing

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Publisher statement

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Transactions of the IMF on 12 May 2019, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/00202967.2019.1587263.

Acceptance date

2019-02-12

Publication date

2019-05-12

ISSN

0020-2967

eISSN

1745-9192

Language

  • en