Investigation of Tin (Sn) Film Using an Aerosol Jet Additive Manufacturing Deposition Process

• Published in: Journal of electronic materials Vol. 46; no. 8; pp. 5174 - 5182
• Main Authors: Fortier, Aleksandra, Liu, Yue, Ghamarian, Iman, Collins, Peter C., Chason, Eric
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.08.2017; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Additive manufacturing; Aerosols; Alloys; Brasses; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Compressive properties; Deposition; Electronics and Microelectronics; Electroplating; Instrumentation; Intermetallic compounds; Materials research; Materials Science; Nucleation; Optical and Electronic Materials; Residual stress; Solid State Physics; Stress concentration; Stress distribution; Tin; Titanium nitride; X-ray diffraction; stress state; Sn whiskers; additive manufacturing; grain texture; Sn film
• ISSN: 0361-5235; 1543-186X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11664-017-5524-7

The quality of a Sn film deposited by the aerosol process is compared against the quality of Sn films deposited with traditional electroplating. Using the aerosol additive deposition technique, a Sn film was deposited on a brass substrate and exposed to room (25°C) temperature environments for 30 days, followed by a laser photosintering process. The film characteristics and content, formation of intermetallic compounds, residual stress distribution, grain texture, and the tendency of the film to grow Sn whiskers were analyzed. The preliminary results show a successful deposition of Sn film with an aerosol jet process and tensile residual stresses, whereas it was compressive in nature for electroplated Sn film. X-ray diffraction results also show the absence of intermetallic compound (IMC) formation in the aerosol jet-deposited film, while electroplated Sn film has a significant presence of IMC. The aerosol jet-deposited Sn film has the potential to resist nucleation of Sn whiskers under the operating conditions used in this study.