Characteristic of low temperature of Bi-In-Sn solder alloy

Due to the increase in the use of electronics devices within the industry, the usage of solder connections has increased. These is a concern that lead within the electronic products is considered toxic because lead has potential for leaching from landfills onto water sources and becoming a hazard to human health and surrounding environment. For this reason, replacing Sn-37Pb to free solder with low melting temperature is one of the most important issues in electronic industry. This is due to a demand on low temperature for interconnection and polymer based part component such as LCD display functionality availability at low temperature apply. In this paper, Bi-In-Sn system alloy was investigated as a potential candidate replacing Sn-37Pb. This study covers on solder characteristic such as melting temperature, thermal expansion and microstructure. Bi-In-Sn was prepared and melted in crucible. Solder was cleaned mechanical and chemical before characterized. DSC shows that, Bi-In-Sn system alloy give low melting temperature in range of 65-100°C. The addition of In to Bi-Sn system alloy lowered the melting temperature compared than Sn-37Pb. Lowest melting temperature ensures that the solder melts, forms a joint with the substrates, and re-solidifies within the shortest possible process time. From thermal expansion analysis, it was found that Bi-In-Sn gives good expansion properties to avoid mismatch between Cu pads and solder itself. EDX analysis indicated that, there are two obvious regions in Bi-In-Sn system alloy microstructure. Bright colour refers to BiIn rich phase region and dark colour refers to Sn rich phase region. BiIn rich phase region is higher compared to Sn rich phase in solder give good properties in terms of ductility.