Folks,
I was at SMTAI (Surface Mount Technology Association International) from September 24 and 27, 2010. As I mentioned, I chaired a session on Alternative Alloys from 2:00-3:30PM on Tuesday 26th.
At this session, Greg Henshall presented a paper on the Low Silver BGA Sphere Metallurgy Project. This paper was a collaborative effort of six companies. In addition, Richard Coyle presented an overview of the work of three companies entitled The Effect of Silver Content on the Solder Joint Reliability of a Pb-free PBGA Package. Both of these projects evaluated lead-free thermal cycle reliability as a function of silver content and compared the results to tin-lead reliability.
Both papers concluded that as far as thermal cycle reliability is concerned SnPb<SAC105<SAC305< SAC405. Coyle’s paper summed it up the best:
Each of the SAC alloys outperformed the SnPb eutectic alloy in every test including the long, 60 minute dwell time test. This tends to diminish the argument that SAC is less reliable than SnPb. (See Coyle’s figure. Data curves to the right are more reliable.)
Henshall’s paper also showed that the addition of dopants, to improve shock resistance, in SAC105 does not reduce thermal cycle life.
So, it appears, at this time, that, from a thermal cycle and drop shock perspective, it is looking more and more like SAC based solders out perform tin-lead solders in these two reliability arenas.
At the end of the session a noted lead-free curmudgeon came over to introduce himself. We have had a jovial disagreement on several blogs etc. in the past re: lead-free status and issues, but had not met in person. I should mention that this person is a college graduate, a former technical leader at several influential technological companies, and he owns a PE license. I asked him what he now thought about lead-free reliability after hearing the talks. He claimed that he is a little less likely to think that lead-free reliability is a disaster. He still refuses to purchase any lead-free products. He buys old units (pre-2006) on eBay.
I mentioned that over $2 trillion of electronics has been placed in the field since 2006 with no unusual reliability issues. I then went on to say that a RoHS-compliant product is much more likely to fail due to a non-RoHS related issue. He did not disagree. So then I asked him why he won’t use RoHS compliant electronics. His answer: “I just don’t trust them.”
Cheers,
Dr. Ron