Materials Science and Engineering A 528 (2011) 59555960

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Materials Science and Engineering A

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/msea

Interface between SnSbCu solder and copper substrate

a,
b,c

P. Sebo
, P. Svec
, D. Janickovic b , E. Illekov b , Yu. Plevachuk d
a

Institute of Materials and Machine Mechanics, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Racianska 75, 831 02 Bratislava 3, Slovakia
Institute of Physics, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dbravsk cesta 9, 845 11 Bratislava 45, Slovakia
Faculty of Materials Science and Technology, Slovak University of Technology, J. Bottu 25, 917 24 Trnava, Slovakia
d
Ivan Franko National University, Department of Metal Physics, 79005 Lviv, Ukraine
b
c

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 16 November 2010
Received in revised form 5 April 2011
Accepted 7 April 2011
Available online 13 April 2011
Keywords:
Lead-free solder
Cu joints
Shear strength
Differential scanning calorimetry

a b s t r a c t
Inuence of antimony and copper in SnSbCu solder on the melting and solidication temperatures and
on the microstructure of the interface between the solder and copper substrate after wetting the substrate
at 623 K for 1800 s were studied. Microstructure of the interface between the solder and copper substrates
in CusolderCu joints prepared at the same temperature for 1800 s was observed and shear strength
of the joints was measured. Inuence of the atmosphere air with the ux and deoxidising N2 + 10H2
gas was taken into account. Thermal stability and microstructure were studied by differential scanning
calorimetry (DSC), light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy-dispersive spectrometry (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Melting and solidication temperatures of the solders were
determined. An interfacial transition zone was formed by diffusion reaction between solid copper and
liquid solder. At the interface Cu3 Sn and Cu6 Sn5 phases arise. Cu3 Sn is adjacent to the Cu substrate and its
thickness decreases with increasing the amount of copper in solder. Scallop Cu6 Sn5 phase is formed also
inside the solder drop. The solid solution Sn(Sb) and SbSn phase compose the interior of the solder drop.
Shear strength of the joints measured by push-off method decreases with increasing Sb concentration.
Copper in the solder shows even bigger negative effect on the strength.
2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The effort to replace lead in SnPb solders leads to intensive study
of new developed alloys. Most of these alloys are tin-containing
binary and ternary solders. Substitution of SnPb for the volume of
Pb up to 85% by SnAgCu solder has been proposed as the most
promising one. For higher volume of Pb (solders for higher temperature) the researchers looked for a new reserve component. One
of the possibilities is the use of SnSb and SnSb based alloys as
potential replacement of high Pb solders [1]. SnSb solders are often
used in the step soldering technology, where soldering is applied
more than once during manufacturing. The solders used at the early
stages should be characterized by higher melting temperatures in
order to prevent melting of the existing solder joints during the
subsequent soldering [2]. Low concentration of antimony addition is known to improve the mechanical properties of tin and to
inhibit the allotropic transformation. Tin solder with low antimony
concentration has the advantage of good room-temperature creep
resistance and mechanical strength [3]. Reaction rate of SnSb alloy
with Cu was very high [4], which means that SnSb alloy could
dissolve Cu substrate severely. Because of that small quantities of

copper are often added to the alloys to prevent the dissolution of

copper substrate. Addition of Cu increases the liquidus temperature of the SnSbCu ternary equilibrium phase diagram, which is
an advantage for the reliability of solder joints in terms of melting
temperature [5] and improves their electrical characteristics.
Chen et al. [6] studied interfacial reactions inter alia in the
Sn5 at.%Sb and Sn10 at.%Sb at 250 C with Cu substrate. Reaction
products Cu6 Sn5 and Cu3 Sn grow linearly with the square root of
reaction time. Similar results were obtained by Zeng et al. [7] studying interfacial reaction of Sn10Sb5Cu high temperature lead-free
solder and Cu substrate. Present authors [8] studied the inuence
of Sb (5, 10 and 20 at.%) and copper (0, 1.8, 3.4 and 3.7 at.%) on the
wetting of copper substrates in SnSbCu solders and on the shear
strength of the CusolderCu joints.
The aim of this contribution is to estimate the inuence of antimony and copper in these solders on the melting and solidication
temperatures and to determine the phases developed at the interface between the solder and copper substrate and inside the solder
drop after wetting the substrate by the solders at 623 K for 1800 s.

2. Experimental

Corresponding author. Tel.: +421 2 49268282; fax: +421 2 44253301.

E-mail addresses: Pavel.Sebo@savba.sk, ummssebo@savba.sk (P. Sebo).

0921-5093/$ see front matter 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.msea.2011.04.008

Solders SnSb and SnSbCu (Table 1) were prepared by melting

appropriate amounts of relevant metals of the purity 99.99 and
higher in an induction furnace with an overpressure of argon at

P. S ebo et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 528 (2011) 59555960

5956
Table 1
Composition of SnSbCu solders (in at.%).
Solder

Sn

Sb

S1
S2
S3
S4
S5
S6

95
90
80
90.8
86
76.1

5
10
20
7.4
10.6
20.2

Cu

1.8
3.4
3.7

around 600 C in two forms, bulk (lumps) and ribbon. The lumps of
solder were used for DSC and wetting experiments; ribbons 5 mm
wide and 0.05 mm thick prepared by rapid quenching were used
for making the joints.
The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to study
the melting and solidication temperatures, especially to determine the solidus, Txm1 (the onset temperature of the rst melting
peak during the heating) and the liquidus Txs1 (the onset temperature of the rst solidication peak during the cooling) of each solder.
The continuous heating regimes with the heating and cooling rate
10 K/min were applied. The sequence of three cycles (the heating
and cooling runs) immediately after each other, was always realized in DSC to consider the reproducibility of the studied processes.
While the instrument was calibrated for the heating regime, each
temperature had to be corrected by adding of +5.1 K in the cooling regime. The precision of the DSC data is 0.5 K and 2 J g1 .
Aluminium pans and lids, the empty pan for the reference and the
dynamic argon atmosphere (30 ml/min ow) were used.
Solder in cube form with edge length 4 mm was put on a
copper substrate and placed into the furnace. Prior to the insertion into the furnace the substrate as well as the cube of solder
was covered with ux (solution of colophony and diethylammoniumdichloride in isopropylacohol). Wetting of copper substrate was
done by all solders at the temperature 623 K (350 C) in air atmosphere using ux as well as in deoxidising gas N2 + 10H2 (without
ux) for 1800 s [8] in order to enable the phase(s) at the interface to
rise and to grow for easier identication. For this identication the
same specimens were used as for wetting measurements. Industrial
soldering process is, of course, shorter. The samples from wetting
experiments were cut perpendicularly to reveal the cross section.
After metallographic treatment the microstructure of the interface was studied by light microscopy, electron microscopy using
energy-disperse X-ray analyser (EDX) and X-ray diffraction (XRD).
For X-ray diffraction analysis the most of Cu (substrate) and solder
were removed from the specimen in order to relatively maximize
the interface area. Conventional horizontal diffractometer HZG4 with Cu K radiation in BraggBrentano conguration with a
graphite monochromator in the diffracted beam was used. Spatially resolved phase analysis in the direction perpendicular to the
Cusolder interface [9] was performed using X-ray diffractometer
Bruker D8 Discover Super Speed Solution equipped with an 18 kW
Cu rotating anode and TXS generator operating at 12 kW. Vertical
beam size was restricted by a primary divergence slit yielding a
beam width of 0.1 mm at the sample surface. Horizontal size of
the beam was limited to 6 mm. Sample holder drive allowed a controlled shift of the sample from the predetermined position of the
Cusolder interface. Consecutive X-ray proles were taken from
the specimen after its shift by 0.1 mm up to 1 mm from the copper
substrate into the solder.
The inuence of copper added to the SnSb solder on the reaction with Cu substrate can be proven by measuring the thickness of
the phase in dependence on the concentration of copper in solder.
Because the thickness of this phase is not even, we measured the
surface of the phase and its length by personal computer using SigmaScan Pro 5.0 software. Cu6 Sn5 phase was not measured because
it occurs also inside the solder drop. Measured were three sol-

Table 2
Onset temperature and transformation enthalpies of main melting and solidifying
effects (reaction R1) of relevant solders S1S6 in bulk form with various amounts of
antimony and copper in the as-prepared state.
Solder

S1

S2

S3

S4

S5

S6

Txm1 [K]
Txs1 [K]
Txm1 Txs1 [K]
Hm1 [J g1 ]
Hs1 [J g1 ]

510.2
506.2
4.0
58.8
58.4

526.1
519.2
6.9
55.9
58.6

514.6
519.4
4.8
43.3
47.9

508.7
512.0
3.3
60.6
59.3

506.8
512.6
5.6
57.4
51.6

508.7
512.9
2.6
35.5
35.5

ders: S1 not containing copper, S4 solder with 1.8 at.% of copper

and S6 with 3.7 at.% copper. Surfaces were measured from the gures obtained by SEM. Average thickness of the Cu3 Sn phase was
calculated as a ratio of the surface of the phase to its length.
Joint specimens were prepared by joining of two copper plates
with inserted solder in ribbon form between them. One plate was
circular (diameter 15 mm, thickness 1.5 mm), the second plate was
a square (edge length 15 mm, thickness 1.5 mm). For making the
joints in air copper plates were covered with the ux and inserted
into the holder and kept in the furnace for 1800 s at the temperature 623 K. Joints were prepared also in N2 + 10H2 gas. For each
set of joints four specimens were prepared. Three were used for
shear strength measurement using the push-off method. Loading
rate was 1 mm min1 . The fourth joint was used for microstructure
study.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. DSC of the solders
The results of the DSC measurements of the binary SnSb alloys
(solders S1S3) have already been presented and deeply analyzed
in our previous paper [10]. Accordingly, the as-prepared Sn95Sb5
sample consists of the Sn(Sb) solid solution. This solder manifests one massive endothermic peak which, in the case of the
bulk shape sample, starts at Txm1 = 510.2 K during the continuous heating or one reversed sharp exothermic peak starting at
Txs1 = 506.2 K (Table 2) in the case of continuous cooling. The asprepared Sn90Sb10 and Sn80Sb20 samples consist of solid Sn(Sb)
and also SnSb (stistaite) phases. These DSC results and their interpretation coincide well with the actual SnSb phase diagram [11].
The range of temperatures for heating and cooling was
300623 K. The data are shown in the temperature ranges (as
shown in Figs. 13) where thermal effects were observed; lower
and higher ranges, where no signicant thermal effects were
observed, have not been plotted. Variation of the heating/cooling
rates (10 and 40 K/min) does not cause any new effect besides the
standard shift of the characteristic temperatures (due to crystallization).
Results analogous to those from solders S1S3 have been
obtained also for the ternary solders S4S6. Similarly as in the case
of alloy S1, both melting and solidication of the Sn90.8 Sb7.4 Cu1.8
(S4) is characterized by one sharp reaction R1 at Txm1 = 508.7 K and
Txs1 = 512.0 K, respectively (Fig. 1). In the same way as in the case
of alloys S2 and S3, the sharp peak R1 is accompanied by another
smaller shallow peak R2 (Figs. 2 and 3) at higher temperatures in
the case of Sn86 Sb10.6 Cu3.4 and also Sn76.1 Sb20.2 Cu3.7 (S5 and S6).
For these two solders, however, the reactions R1 and R2 are splitted
into two, more or less depicted, sub-reactions denoted as R11 and
R12, and R21 and R22, respectively. Especially in the case of sample S6 and during the cooling regime, the exothermic effects R21
and R22 remain completely separated forming two single peaks
which have their onset temperatures shifted against each other by
T = 31.8 K (Fig. 3).

P. S ebo et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 528 (2011) 59555960

Table 3
Concentration of Cu, Sn and Sb in Ai points (Fig. 4a) (in at.%).

4.0

3.0
Tsm1

2.5
heating

Normalized heat power [ W/g ]

3.5

2.0
cooling

1.5

Points

Cu

Sn

Sb

A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
A6
A7
A8

78.8
75.8
46.7
52.7
54.0
48.6
4.3
75.7

18.4
22.5
46.6
45.8
40.8
46.7
84.0
20.5

2.8
1.9
6.7
1.5
5.2
4.7
11.7
3.7

Txs1

1.0
0.5
500

510

520

530

540

Temperature [ K ]
Fig. 1. Heating and cooling DSC curves of the S4 (full line), S5 (dashed line) and S6
(dash-dot line) solders in bulk form. Heating and cooling rates were 10 K/min.

2.0
R1

heating
1.9

cooling
1.8

Normalized heat power [ W/g ]

5957

3.5
3.0

R1

R12

R11

2.5

1.7

2.0
1.5
500

520

540

560

Results obtained by differential scanning calorimetry are summarized in Table 2. Quantities Txm1 and Txs1 are the onset
temperatures of main melting and solidication effects, respectively, Hm1 , Hs1 are transformation enthalpies of these effects of
relevant solders S1S6 with various amounts of antimony and copper in the as-prepared state. The quantities Txm1 and Txs1 remain
close to each other in accord with the fact that they represent the
start of the same reaction, which has a complex DSC trace (Fig. 1).
The enthalpies Hm1 , Hs1 , however, vary signicantly with the
chemical composition.
In the SnSbCu solders, no transformations below R1 or above
R2 reactions have been observed. X-ray diffraction analysis of the
solder samples conrms the presence of solid solution Sn(Sb), SnSb
(stistaite) and only minute traces of Cu6 Sn5 . No SbCu phase has
been detected. The content of stistaite increases with increasing
content of Sb in the solder. All melting and solidication DSC characteristics coincide well with the appropriate SnSb phase diagram.
Only the splitting of both R1 and R2 peaks to R11, R12, R21 and R22,
and also the shift of the temperature of the R1 reaction from the
value of 519 K down to 512 K (temperatures Ts1 in Table 2) indicates certain solution of Cu in both or the presence of Cu6 (SnSb)5 .
These facts acknowledge that the ternary SnSbCu solders (Nos.
S4S6) preferentially consist of the mixture of the three phases
mentioned above.

1.6
500

520

540

560

580

600

620

3.2. Microstructure of the interfaces, solders and soldered joints

Temperature [ K ]
Fig. 2. Details of the heating and cooling DSC curves of Sn86 Sb10.6 Cu3.4 alloy in bulk
form. Complete melting peaks are in the inset; dashed lines represent the second
heating after the rst heating and cooling in DSC. Heating and cooling rates were
10 K/min.

2.0

heating
R22

R21

1.8
cooling

3.0

Normalized heat power [ W/g ]

2.2

1.6
2.5
R2

1.4
2.0
500

1.2
500

520

510

540

520

560

530

540

580

600

550

620

Temperature [K]
Fig. 3. Details of the heating and cooling DSC curves of Sn76.1 Sb20.2 Cu3.7 alloy in bulk
form. Complete melting peaks are in the inset; dashed lines represent the second
heating after the rst heating and cooling in DSC. Heating and cooling rates were
10 K/min.

3.2.1. Microstructure of the interface and solders

Fig. 4a shows SEM image of the interface between copper substrate and solder Sn95Sb5 (sample Cu + S1) after wetting the copper
substrate at 623 K for 1800 s. The composition of several particles
measured by energy dispersive X-ray analyser is given in Table 3.
Possible phases occurring in the microstructure can be solid solution of Sb in Sn (A7) and phases Cu6 Sn5 (A3, A4, A5, A6) and Cu3 Sn
(A1, A2, A8) which is adjacent to the copper substrate. Fig. 4b
shows the corresponding X-ray diffraction prole which conrms
the data observed from EDX measurement. The gure shows six
diffraction records from the specimen. The X-ray proles characterize the existence and localization of the phases at the interface
and in its vicinity. The rst record corresponds to the position of
the X-ray beam 0.1 mm below the interface in copper substrate.
The second one corresponds to the interface line and each next
record meets the position of the specimen shifted by 0.1 mm inside
the solder. Twelve diffraction records (up to depth of the solder
of 1 mm) were done from the specimen (in Fig. 4b only six proles are presented). X-ray maxima of Sn(Sb) solid solutions gain
bigger intensity with increasing the distance from the interface.
The same behaviour is observed for the SbSn phase. The intensity of SbSn diffraction maxima grows also with the increase of
Sb concentration in the solder. Intensity of reections from copper
(substrate) and Cu6 Sn5 phases decreases with increasing distance
from the interface. X-ray diffraction results show us the presence
of Cu6 Sn5 at the interface and also inside the solder. Another two
phases (Sn(Sb) and SbSn) are localized farther from the interface,

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P. S ebo et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 528 (2011) 59555960

Fig. 4. Microstructure of the interface between Cu substrate and S1 solder after wetting at 623 K for 1800 s in N2 + 10H2 gas (a) and corresponding X-ray diffraction prole (b).
The symbols () Sn, () Cu6 Sn5 , () SnSb (stistaite), () Cu. The numbers indicate the offset of the X-ray beam against the reference value set to zero at the Cu substratesolder
interface.

lying in the solder drop. The quantity of the Cu3 Sn phase is very low,
being localized in a thin discontinuous layer to give distinguishable
diffraction maxima. Diffraction maximum of gold in Fig. 4b is from
the gold deposited on the specimen surface to make it electrically
conductive (for SEM observations).
Fig. 5a (back scattered electrons) shows the microstructure of
the interface between the copper substrates and S4 solder after
wetting the copper substrate at 623 K for 1800 s. Fig. 5b shows the
corresponding X-ray diffraction prole which is very similar to the
diffraction proles from the sample Cu + S1 and conrms the data
observed from EDX measurement.
Table 4 shows the thickness of Cu3 Sn phase at the interface
between the copper substrate and solders S1, S4 and S6 with 0,
1.8 and 3.7 at.% copper, respectively. The surface was measured
along the same lengths of the interface in all cases. The results show
that copper in solder slows down the dissolution of SnSb solder
in copper substrate.

Table 4
The average thickness of the Cu3 Sn phase developed at the interface of S1, S4 and
S6 solders with copper substrate after wetting at 623 K for 1800 s in N2 + 10H2 gas.
Solder

At.% of Cu in a solder

Thickness of Cu3 Sn
phase [m]

S1
S4
S6

0
1.8
3.7

3.61 0.08
3.50 0.08
2.83 0.08

3.2.2. Microstructure of the joints and their shear strength

Figs. 6 and 7 show microstructures of the joints CuS1Cu
and CuS4Cu, respectively, both prepared at 623 K and 1800 s.
Tables 5 and 6 give the chemical composition in given points
of the interface and the solder for both joints, respectively.
The microstructure of the joints is composed of two interfaces

Fig. 5. Microstructure (back scattered electrons) of the interface between Cu substrate and S4 solder after wetting at 623 K for 1800 s in N2 + 10H2 gas (a) and corresponding
X-ray diffraction prole (b). The symbols () Sn, () Cu6 Sn5 , () SnSb (stistaite), () Cu. The numbers indicate the offset of the X-ray beam against the reference value set to
zero at the Cu substratesolder interface.

P. S ebo et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 528 (2011) 59555960

5959

Table 6
Concentration of Cu, Sn and Sb in Ci points (Fig. 7) (in at.%).

Fig. 6. Microstructure of the joint CuS1Cu made at 623 K and 1800 s in N2 + 10H2
gas.

Point

Cu

Sn

Sb

C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
C7
C8
C9
C10

76.5
77.0
52.9
54.3
0
1.7
53.3
53.8
77.4
74.2

21.5
20.6
41.6
40.9
90.7
89.0
42.9
39.6
20.8
23.7

2.0
2.5
5.5
4.8
9.3
9.2
3.8
6.6
1.8
2.0

B9 and B10 located symmetrically according to longitudinal centre line) which is adjacent to the copper substrate and scallop
Cu6 Sn5 phase which is adjacent to the Cu3 Sn phase (points B3,
B4 and B7 and B8). Inside the joint there is solid solution of
Sb in Sn and SbSn phase even though the point representing
this phase similarly as in the case of solder after wetting, is not
shown. The identical situation is observed for the phase composition in the joint CuS4Cu (compare composition in points Ci
in Table 6 and Fig. 7 with composition in points Bi from Table 5
and Fig. 6). Phases present in the joints for a given solder have
practically the same composition as those observed in wetting
experiments.
Fig. 8 shows the shear strength of the joints CuSiCu [8]. The
shear strength of the joints with SnSb (S1S3) solders is around
17 MPa and practically does not depend on the medium in which
the joint was made (air with ux or deoxidising gas N2 + 10H2 ). At
the interface between the copper substrate and Cu3 Sn phase in the
case of copper-free solders (S1S3) there is an unbonded region
between these two phases (Fig. 6) which can be due to different
coefcient of thermal expansion. The shear strength of the joints
decreases moderately with increasing content of antimony in the
solder. In the case for SnSbCu (S4S6) solders there is a smooth
transition from the substrate to Cu3 Sn phase (points C9, C10 in
Table 6 and Fig. 7).
Shear strength of the joints prepared in a deoxidising gas is
higher (reaching 22 MPa) than that of the corresponding joint
prepared in air. Shear strength of the joints made with S4S6 solders decreases with the increase of antimony concentration. This
decrease of the shear strength can be explained by retrogressive
wetting of the copper substrate with increasing content of antimony. Shear strength of the joints prepared in air (with S4S6

Fig. 7. Microstructure of the joint CuS4Cu made at 623 K and 1800 s in N2 + 10H2
gas.

Air+Flux
N2 +10H2

Table 5
Concentration of Cu, Sn and Sb in Bi points (Fig. 6) (in at.%).
Points

Cu

Sn

Sb

B1
B2
B3
B4
B5
B6
B7
B8
B9
B10

71.7
75.5
54.2
54.0
4.2
1.1
54.2
51.5
74.2
73.6

25.7
21.9
41.4
42.4
87.9
89.7
42.3
44.8
23.3
23.7

2.6
2.6
4.4
3.6
7.9
9.2
3.5
3.7
2.5
2.7

Shear Strength [MPa]

20
between two copper substrates and solder as well as of the solder
itself.
These gures reveal the presence of the at Cu3 Sn phase at
both interfaces (points B1, B2 from Table 5 and Fig. 6 and points

15

10

0
S1

S2

S3

S4

S5

Solder
Fig. 8. Shear strength of the CusolderCu joints [8].

S6

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P. S ebo et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 528 (2011) 59555960

solders) is approximately on the same level as for joints prepared with copper-free solders except the joint prepared in air
with the highest volume of copper in solder (S6). This increase
can be due to the possible oxidation of copper (contained in solder).
4. Conclusions
Microstructure of the interface between the copper substrate
and lead-free SnSbCu solders after wetting at 623 K and 1800 s and
in CusolderCu joints prepared under the same conditions, were
studied together with the melting and solidication phenomena
of the solders. The inuence of Sb and Cu addition on the melting
and solidication temperatures were determined and correlated
with the phase diagram. Addition of both Sb and Cu leads to the
broadening of the total melting effect.
In the case of the contact of the solders with Cu substrate, the formation of the Cu3 Sn phase at the interface which
is adjacent to the copper substrate has been documented.
The average thickness of this phase decreases with increasing the amount of copper in solder. The next phase adjacent
to Cu3 Sn has been determined to be a scallop Cu6 Sn5 phase,
which is formed also inside the solder drop. The solid solution Sn(Sb) and SbSn phase compose the interior of the solder
drop.
Shear strength of the CusolderCu decreases with increasing
amount of antimony in solder. Copper in the solder has even bigger
negative effect on the shear strength of the joints.

Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the nancial support of
the Slovak Grant Agency under the contracts VEGA 2/6160/26 and
2/0111/11. This work was also supported by the Slovak Research
and Development Agency under the contracts APVV-0102-07,
APVV-0413-06 and APVV-SK-UA-0043-09. This research is contributing to the European COST Action MP0602 on Advanced Solder
Materials for High Temperature Applications. The authors are also
grateful to Dr. Zemnkov from the Institute of Materials and
Machine Mechanics SAS for performing the electron microscopic
observations.
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