Modeling the diffusion of solid copper into liquid solder alloys

During the soldering process, the copper atoms diffuse into liquid solders. The diffusion process determines integrity and the reworking possibility of a solder joint. In order to capture the diffusion scenarios of solid copper into liquid Sn-Pb and Sn-Cu solders, a computer modeling has been performed for 10 s. An analytical model has also been proposed for calculating the diffusion coefficient of copper into liquid solders. It is found that the diffusion coefficient for Sn-Pb solder is 2.74 x 10(-10) m(2)/s and for Sn-Cu solder is 6.44 x 10(-9) m(2)/s. The modeling results reveal that the diffusion coefficient is one of the major factors that govern the rate at which solid Cu dissolve in the molten solder. The predicted dissolved amounts of copper into solders have been validated with the help of scanning electron microscopic analysis. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.