High-temperature lead-free solders with requirements

Conductive adhesive materials are very cost-competitive with solder materials, only require a relatively low-temperature cure, and leave no residues, and thus require no subsequent cleaning step. This is a significant advantage compared to lead-free solders that require a high-temperature reflow and, depending on the flux utilized, may also require a subsequent cleaning step. The print speeds of conductive adhesives are comparable to solder pastes. 

TAB packages are usually naturally lead-free at the component level. Assembly to the apphcation board does require lead-free solder along with a requirement for the package to be able to withstand the high temperatures associated with lead-free processing. 

Solder requirements are the same as for any other process. There are no ahoy composition requirements specific to laser soldering, as this soldering method is compatible with leaded or lead-free solder alloys. Even high-temperature alloys can be soldered by this technique. When single-point laser reflow is apphed, the board quality and integrity are not compromised if parameters are chosen and adequately controlled. 

Two issues have arisen regarding RoHS requirements for the flexible circuit materials flame-retardant molecules with bromine in adhesive resins, and heat resistance for high-temperature processing with lead-free soldering. Although the issue of bromine is not actually a part of the RoHS requirement, it has been linked to the general environmental issues of printed circuit materials and processes. 

The introduction of the lead-free soldering method has led to an increase in the temperature requirements of between 20-30 °C and thus created a demand for products with improved properties. The higher heat requirements for the materials used in the process may lead to increased use of high temperature thermoplastics at the expense of PBT. 

As noted earlier, lead-free alloys require high reflow temperatures compared to eutectic Sn-Pb— with thermal profile plateaus in the range of 180-190°C, which are too high for fluxes formulated for eutectic Sn-Pb solder. The oxidation of rosin in air and the increased polymerization at elevated temperatures result in residues that are very difficult to clean with standard solvents. Flux vehicles selected for use in lead-free solder pastes are dramatically different from those used in eutectic Sn-Pb solder pastes. It was determined that cleaning products that preformed very well with eutectic Sn-Pb technology did not remove some residues left as a result of the new flux vehicle formulated for a lead-free solder [11]. 

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