Suppression of vigorous liquid Sn/Te reactions by Sn–Cu solder alloys

Abstract

Reactions of molten Sn–xCu (x = 0.05 to 1.0) alloys with Te substrate at 250 °C were investigated. A dosage of 0.1 wt% Cu in Sn is found to be effective in suppressing the vigorous Sn/Te reaction by forming a thin CuTe at the solder/Te interface. The CuTe morphology changes from irregular clusters into a layered structure with increasing Cu content in Sn. With the same reaction time, the CuTe thickness increases proportionally to the square root of Cu content in Sn–Cu alloys, suggesting a diffusion-controlled growth for CuTe.