OSAKA, JAPAN — Nihon Superior (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., a supplier of advanced soldering and brazing materials to the world market, announces that it will showcase a new, expanded range of SN100C products in booth 2C25 at the NEPCON China exhibition, scheduled to take place April 8-11, 2008 at the Everbright Convention and Exhibition Center Shanghai China.

With its unique tin-copper-nickel-germanium alloy SN100C now firmly established as one of the global electronics industry’s most popular lead-free wave soldering alloys, Nihon Superior announces that it is extending the range of forms in which the alloy is available.

Although developed initially to address the need for an economical wave solder, it has since been found that its properties also make SN100C an ideal choice for reflow and hand soldering as well as spheres for the attachment of area array packages.

The fluidity of SN100C, which is comparable to that of tin-lead, is one of the factors that contributes to excellent hole fill and minimal shorts in wave soldering. However, that property is also an advantage in hand soldering where, in combination with the right core flux (030) it makes possible the completion of more than 35 average joints per minute with a tip temperature of only 380°C. Nihon Superior is now offering the new eCore low-spatter lead-free flux-cored solder wire.

The 227°C melting point of SN100C was first thought to preclude its use in reflow soldering but when it was noted that tin-silver-copper alloys (such as SAC305 with a melting point of 217-218°C) are typically reflowed with a peak temperature around 245°C, it was realized that SN100C could be a drop-in replacement. Its high fluidity and excellent wetting properties mean that SN100C can be reflowed successfully at a lower superheat above liquidus than SAC alloys. Nihon Superior now offers two types of SN100C solder paste — no-clean ePaste for general reflow purposes and ePaste, a special no-clean low voiding paste for critical applications such as die attach where heat transfer though the joint must be maximised.

Advantages of the tin-copper system include its ruggedness in impact loading and the nickel addition provides inhibition of the intermetallic growth that can increase the susceptibility of joints to failure in shock loading, e.g. when a mobile phone is dropped. These properties are prompting the industry to evaluate SN100C in flip chip and area array packages, and Nihon Superior is supporting this new application by making a range of eBalls available.

Stop by Nihon Superior’s booth 2C25 at NEPCON China to find out more about the company’s new forms of SN100C soldering materials.