In an earlier post I mentioned that cross-sectioning a NanoBond® was one of my favorite tests. My other favorite test is shear testing.
It’s great to see what is going on in the bondline of a solder interface – but having a numerical value to compare the bond strength is important when you are attempting to maximize bond strength.
For small components, shear testing may be manageable "as is" (such as the component in the image shown here, courtesy XYZTEC). For larger bonded surfaces like sputtering targets, it might be a good idea to cut up your backing plates and target material so you can use less material and create more bond variations. Instead of one large target, I’d much rather have 20 samples to bond with various foil thicknesses, solder coatings, and bonding pressures.
*This post is part of the NanoBond® Process series