Low Temperature Solder: Enabling the Future

As trends in the computing industry continue to drive package form factor extremes, managing SMT yields and product reliability when using tin-silver-copper (SAC) reflow is increasingly challenging. Solder paste development activities over the last 10 years have been targeted at addressing the historical reliability challenges of Tin-Bismuth based low temperature solder (LTS) materials. These updated materials are showing great promise in meeting product reliability requirements while enabling significant reductions in reflow peak temperature. This presentation will review the status of Sn-Bi solders, requirements for effective conversion from SAC to LTS, and discuss product trends that will demand additional industry research efforts in the coming decade.