The effect of lead free soldering on formation of black pad failure
By this time usable solder alloys for lead-free soldering had already been developed. NEMI (National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative) recommends Sn/3.9Ag/0.6Cu (±0.2%) solder alloy for reflow soldering instead of leaded solder alloys, due to its excellent mechanical properties and other good parameters. The next step is the choosing of suitable pad finish for lead-free soldering. In the age of fine pitch assemblies (QFPs (Quad Flat Pack), BGAs (Ball Grid Array) and CSP (Chip Size Package)) flat and planar plated surfaces are needed. Electroless Nickel Immersion Gold (ENIG) pad finishes are used, when there is a need for aluminum wire bonding besides soldering. At the interface of NiAu plating and the solder a failure can occur, called 'black pad'. Black pad is not only a cosmetic problem, but also a source of weak wire bonding and soldering joints. The question is, whether the lead free soldering affects the formation of black pad failure or not. Experiments were made to answer this question, and this paper will show the results.
A novel method for direct solder bump pull testing using lead-free solders
This thesis focuses on the design, fabrication, and evaluation of a new method for testing the adhesion strength of lead-free solders, named the Isotraction Bump Pull method (IBP). In order to develop a direct solder joint-strength testing method that did not require customization for different solder types, bump sizes, specific equipment, or trial-and-error, a combination of two widely used and accepted standards was created. First, solder bumps were made from three types of lead free solder were generated on untreated copper PCB substrates using an in-house fabricated solder bump-on-demand generator, Following this, the newly developed method made use of a polymer epoxy to encapsulate the solder bumps that could then be tested under tension using a high precision universal vertical load machine. The tests produced repeatable and predictable results for each of the three alloys tested that were in agreement with the relative behavior of the same alloys using other testing methods in the literature. The median peak stress at failure for the three solders tested were 2020.52 psi, 940.57 psi, and 2781.0 psi, and were within one standard deviation of the of all data collected for each solder. The assumptions in this work that brittle fracture occurred through the Intermetallic Compound layer (IMC) were validated with the use of Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Spectrometry and high magnification of the fractured surface of both newly exposed sides of the test specimens. Following this, an examination of the process to apply the results from the tensile tests into standard material science equations for the fracture of the systems
Exopolysaccharide biosynthesis and related enzyme activities of the medicinal fungus, Ganoderma lucidum, grown on lactose in a bioreactor
Exopolysaccharide (EPS) production and biosynthesis were studied in Ganoderma lucidum, a fungus used in traditional Chinese medicine, grown with lactose in a bioreactor. β-Galactosidase activity, which implies the existence of a lactose permease system, was induced by lactose. Lactose feeding also increased α-phosphoglucomutase activity and EPS accumulation but decreased phosphoglucose isomerase activity and lactate concentration in the culture broth. A maximum cell density of 22 g l−1 and EPS at 1.25 g l−1 were obtained in fed-batch bioreactor culture.