Low Cost Alternative to SAC Alloys
Paper discusses some new SAC alloy options, comparing performance to current low-cost options, and considers approaches to enhance the performance.
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Authored By:
Brook Sandy and Ronald Lasky, Ph.D., P.E.
Indium Corporation, Clinton, NY, USA
Summary
Developing low-cost alternatives to near-eutectic SAC alloys for Pb-free assembly is crucial to continue producing affordable electronics products. Metals prices have been on the rise, and other factors, such as concerns about "conflict tin", indicate that this trend could likely continue. Solder alloys with lower silver content have been considered, with trade-offs in performance, but are there alternatives? This paper discusses some new alloy options, comparing performance to current low-cost options, and considers approaches to enhance the performance of low-cost solder alloys.
Conclusions
In the foreseeable future it will become necessary for the near-eutectic alloys to be replaced by lower cost alloys with comparable properties. As many different alloys emerge with favorable properties, there is once again a struggle to find the best option. In order to insure equivalent comparisons, more work will need to be done to test alloys side by side in the same processes. We expect to report the results of this work in the future
Initially Published in the SMTA Proceedings
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