Initial Results: Thermal

Properties of Active Solder

Bonds
Randall Redd & Dr. Ronald Smith
S-Bond Technologies, LLC
rredd@s-bond.com

S-Bond
Technologies, LLC
 S-Bond Technologies
„ Original technology patent in 1996 within
another company
„ SBT formed in 2003 to develop
applications in the electronics, aerospace,
defense, and general industrial markets
„ Small team of scientists/engineers that
develop materials and applications, then
license the technology to OEM’s and
contract assembly service providers
 Study Objective
To examine the relative thermal conductivity of
bonded packaging/thermal management
materials in a way that provides relative
performance data to compare active solder
materials to commonly used conventional
solders

Why? ---- TIM1 and bond lines between materials are

frequently the limiting item in high performance thermal
management systems
 Active Solder Chemistry
„ Based on
conventional lead-free
solder materials
Addition of specific
Air
„ Ti/Rare Earth Intermetallics
Thin oxide layer acting as stabilizer

elements creates a
Material # 1 Material # 2
self fluxing system
„ No need to pre-plate, S-Bond® Alloy

metallize, or
add/remove flux
 Study Procedure
„ Test apparatus FORCE

follows ASTM D-5470 Insulator

Guard Heater
H

„ Testing done on
Insulator
Heater
H

substrates T1
Upper

approximately 2”
Meter
Bar
T2
Specimen

square x 0.125” thick

T3
Lower
Meter
Bar

Materials were
T4

„ T5
Reference

consistent in
Calorimeter
T6

thickness within same Cooling Plate

material, but not

Insulator

between materials
 Bonding Methods
„ Substrates were bonded using 4 materials
– Indium based Active Solder (S-Bond® 130)
– Tin/silver based Active Solder (S-Bond® 220)
– 32.5 tin/67.5 lead conventional solder
– 96 tin/4 silver conventional solder
„ Active solder materials bonded directly to the substrate
surface
„ Other materials bonded using flux ---- significant
bonding issues with certain substrates
„ Bond thickness controlled by weight applied to assembly
prior to cooling
„ No evaluation of bond strength
„ Bond quality evaluated by Scanning Acoustic Microscopy
 Active Solder Joining
„ Substrate material is heated to joining
temperature
– Indium based material - 140°C
– Tin/Silver based material - 250°C
„ Surfaces are coated with thin layer of material
by brushing
„ Additional material added and parts assembled
„ Weight is placed on top of assembly during
cooling to establish consistent bond thickness
and minimize voiding
 Conventional Solder Joining
„ Joined using fluxes recommended for
particular material, where available, and
following recommended practices
„ For certain materials, acceptable bonds
could not be obtained without plating the
surface [testing in progress]
– AlSiC with nickel
– Si with gold
 Test Matrix

Si CuW AlSiC Al
Cu X X X X

Si X X X

CuW X X

Difficult to achieve bond with conventional solders

 Anticipated Results
„ Bond conductivity is Relative Bulk
Material Thermal
governed by several Impedance
factors: SB130 1.00
– Bulk thermal
impedance of joining
material
SB220 1.25
– Bond line thickness
Tin/Lead 1.22
– Degree of substrate
surface wetting
– Void fraction Tin/Silver/ 1.25
Copper
 Bond Quality Evaluation
Scanning Acoustic Microscopy

Si bonded to CuW w/SB220 AlSiC bonded to Cu w/tin-lead

 Bond Line Thickness
„ Bond thickness is determined by surface tension,
melt rheology, assembly process, and surface
roughness of substrates
„ Experience shows normal variation of ~1 mill for
a capable process
„ Difficult to make substantial changes in
thickness without use of greatly increased
pressure
„ All bond thickness fell in the range of 1-4 mills
 Measured Relative Thermal
Impedance
Si-CuW Si-Cu
2 2

1 1

0 0

AlSiC-Cu Al-Cu SB130

2 2 SB220

1 1 Sn/Pb

0 0 Sn/Ag/Cu
 Initial Conclusions
„ Bulk thermal impedance drives thermal
performance if the bonding material completely
wets the substrate
„ Active Solders wet and join to a wider variety of
materials than conventional solders, producing
equal or lower thermal impedance
„ Further study is needed with plated substrates
to fully compare conventional solders to active
solders in silicon, AlSiC, and CuW substrates