Electronics Surface Finish Overview

SMTA Upper Midwest Expo

Robyn J Hanson
MacDermid
June 25, 2015
 Agenda

• Overview of Surface Finish Needs

Market drivers
• Current Surface Finishes
Detailing the most popular
• Applications of each finish
• Process steps
• Past issues/beliefs
• Remedies
• Pros and cons

• Summary

p.2
 One Size Fits all?

• Which surface finish is “the best”?

Final Finishes include: Immersion Tin, Immersion
Silver, OSP, ENIG, ENEPIG, HASL - lead and lead-
free, Palladium over Copper and Electrolytic Ni/Au to
mention a few
• People prefer one size fits all
Unfortunately, the truth is, there is no one final finish
to fulfill all the requirements in the industry, so - 'it
depends on your needs’

p.3
 Considerations for Surface Finish Choice
• Lead or lead free assembly
• Cost
• End environment
• Shelf life
• Volume and Throughput
• Fine pitch components
• RF applications
High Frequency
• Probeability
• Thermal resistance
• Shock and drop resistance
p.4
 Overview: for the OEM
• Performance expectations of PCB surface finishes are
greater than just solderability preservation
Historically, surface finishes were designed solely to protect
copper from oxidation prior to the soldering of components
• Today’s expectations include: superior solderability,
contact performance, wire bondability, corrosion and
thermally resistant, an extended end use life and mind
you, all at a low cost

p.5
 Overview: for the OEM

• Designs have changed

Lines and spaces are reduced, solder types and flux
chemistries are different due to no lead demands, there are a
higher percentage of no clean assemblies, number of assembly
cycles has increased, the product needs to carry high
frequency signals so the surface must be flat
Significant amount metal area left exposed in the end-use
applications that needs to be protected from the environment

p.6
 Overview: for the Fabricator
• No choice
in many cases, the surface finish is dictated by the OEM, with
the prints calling out the required surface finish
• in some instances, fast turn prototyping, there may be room for
the fabricator to choose
• In many cases, the prints will offer more than one finish, which is
left to the fabricator

• The fabricator’s expectations: high throughput, ease

of analysis, consistency, low defect rate, visual
inspection, conforms to all environmental and
government regulations, extended bath life, low
cost, low water consumption and waste costs

p.7
Growth Segments in the Electronics Industry
Handheld Devices Infrastructure

Automotive
Handheld Devices
Smartphones, tablets
Infrastructure
support high-function portables
Automotive
unit growth and increasing content

p.8
Surface Finish Market Share - Worldwide

p.9
 HASL: Hot Air Solder Leveling

• The oldest surface finish

• There are Pb and Pb-free versions
• Leaded HASL currently in limited use due to
RoHS and WEEE initiatives
• Currently Exempt
Industrial Vehicles
Military
Aerospace and Defense
High Performance Electronics
• Leaded versions harder to source

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 HASL: Process Steps

• Clean
• Microetch
• Flux
• Solder dip
• Air knife leveling
The shape of the solder will be irregular - not flat
• Post clean

p.11
 HASL: Pros and Cons
• Advantages • Disadvantages
Low Cost Line maintenance
Re-workable Board warpage
Excellent solder • Overall aggressive on panel
wetting Not suited for fine pitch
Long shelf life • Components do not lie flat
Copper dissolution
Paste misprints – Assembly
Lead free
• Wetting problems
• Soldering irons may not get
hot enough
• Reduced PTH reliability

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 Issues at the Fabricator Level

• Copper cleanliness
Critical to the application of the coating
• For fine pitch components, HASL has difficultly
breaking the surface tension caused by the
soldermask
Results in skip pads – creating an open
• For tight line/spacing
The excess solder may not be completely removed,
so the solder may bridge – creating a short

p.13
 Issues at the OEM Level

• HASL is blown from the

PCB surface to remove
excess, this creates non
uniform coverage
– Very difficult to place components

• The hot temperatures of lead-free HASL can

cause warpage and soldermask embrittlement
Difficult component placement
Access to copper for corrosion
Reduced PTH reliability
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 OSP: Organic Solderability Preservative

• Highest volume surface finish

Applications range from low end
to high frequency server boards
Also used in selective finishing
• Latest versions are copper selective and more
thermally resistant
• OSP is applied through chemical adsorption on
the copper surface – no metal to metal
displacement

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 OSP: Process
• Process Steps
Cleaner
Rinse
Microetch
Rinse
Neutralizer
Rinse
OSP
Rinse and dry

p.16
 OSP: Improvements
• The copper was replaced with a more thermally
stable inorganic material
It can withstand higher temperatures and multiple
reflows without degrading
It lessens oxygen permeation and the organic
hardening of the OSP, which leads to oxidation of the
copper
In selective finishing, i.e. when ENIG
is applied as the surface finish, OSP
may be applied to the BGA areas due
to concerns over black pad
• will not adhere to or stain any gold surfaces, no need to plasma clean

p.17
 OSP: Pros and Cons
• Advantages • Disadvantages
Easy process Line maintenance
• Short, automated, • Crystals collect on rollers
easy to analyze
Difficult to inspect, handle
Very inexpensive
Cannot measure thickness
Reworkable
Difficult to probe
• No electrical test
• No wire bonding

Limited shelf life in

assembly
Poor solderability after
reflow

p.18
 Issues at the Fabricator Level
• Copper cleanliness
Critical to the adsorption of the coating
• Line cleanliness
During shutdown, material can dry/solidify on rollers which will
cause defects
• pH effect on coating thickness
Increasing the pH of the OSP bath increases the coating
thickness, but bath becomes unstable
• Not easy to inspect
Leaves a sheen on the copper surface, but could require a
trained eye to understand uniformity
• Thickness measurement is assumed
Based on a thickness panel and assumed coating density

p.19
 Issues at the Assembly Level

• Not thermally resistant

Coating hardens with reflow exposure
• Becomes more difficult to solder
Probing issues
• Material transfers to probe tip resulting in false readings
• Will require more frequent probe maintenance
• Could require a special probe style
Higher OSP thicknesses detrimental to solder paste
flow and hole fill

p.20
 Solder Spread

• Solder stays where it is printed

• When comparing to a metallic surface finish,
difference is dramatic
• No spread leaves more exposed metal
Immersion Tin OSP

p.21
 Immersion Tin

• Applications are predominately

Automotive, US Military and
Aerospace
• Excellent for press fit
applications
Large back panels
• All contain anti whiskering additives,
but tin whisker elimination is not
guaranteed

p.22
 Immersion Tin Process

• Process Steps:
Cleaner
Rinse
Microetch
Rinse
Predip
Immersion Tin
Rinse
Post Dip
Rinse and dry

p.23
 Immersion Tin: Pros and Cons
• Advantages • Disadvantages
Process ease Aggressive on
Well suited for pin soldermask
insertion applications Solderability quickly
Reworkable degrades with one
Low cost heat exposure

Flat, fine pitch Whisker potential

Solder and Tin Quick intermetallic

dissolve quickly in the • Reduced shelf life
solder at assembly,
making a good
copper/tin solder joint

p.24
 Issues at the Fabricator Level
• Copper cleanliness
• Maintenance and add backs are critical to
maintain anti whiskering agents
• Line cleanliness
Over heating bath/introduction of
oxygen will result in tin oxide (Sn4+)
During shutdown, material can
dry/solidify on rollers and cause defects
• Poor control of plating rate can result in adhesion issues
• Pure tin thickness measurement is critical
Older XRFs measure ‘all’ tin and do not give a pure tin reading

p.25
 Tin Copper Intermetallic
• Copper and tin naturally migrate to form an intermetallic, so
migration begins immediately after plating, creating the
intermetallic layer (IMC)
• The IMC is temperature and time dependant

!
!

"

• A minimum of 16 microinches of ‘pure tin’ is necessary to

protect the copper and intermetallic against corrosion
• Once the intermetallic formation eliminates all ‘pure tin’ on
the surface, the solderability is deteriorated
• It is important to target the OEM and chemical supplier
pure tin thickness requirements

p.26
 Issues at the Assembly Level

• Pure tin thickness is lost to the copper

intermetallic with time and temperature
Loss of pure tin will degrade solder performance
• The first reflow exposure will dramatically
reduce the pure tin thickness
Chemical formulations are designed to reduce this from
occurring

• Deposit stress results in tin whiskers

This is a naturally occurring characteristic of tin in direct
contact with copper

p.27
 Tin Whiskers

• The driving force for the formation of

tin whiskers is the strong bond created
between the tin and copper and the
formation of the intermetallic phase
creating a mechanical stress in the
deposit, which is released as a whisker
• The formation of the IMC phase is faster at higher
temperatures, but at higher temperatures more
mechanical stress in the deposit is released
Tin whiskers may be reduced by heating the substrate to
120 C for 90 minutes, but this is not practical for PCBs
• Shelf life will be reduced, due to loss of pure tin

p.28
 Combating Tin Whiskers
• Heat treatments, such as reflow, release stress in the
tin deposit reducing the propensity for whisker growth
• Formation of tin whiskers on immersion tin is reliably
suppressed by doping the tin deposit with an anti-
whisker additive (AWA) which alters the grain structure
to create defined structures with uniform distribution
resulting in less stress
Incorrect AWA in the bath Optimized AWA in the bath

p.29
 Immersion Silver

• Greatest conductivity of all

the surface finishes
Well suited for all high
frequency applications
• Flat, reduces signal loss
• Applications range from low
end to high reliability product
• Topcoats have been formulated to overcome
tarnish and corrosion issues in aggressive
environments

p.30
 Immersion Silver Process

• Process Steps:
Cleaner
Rinse
Microetch
Rinse
Predip
Immersion Silver
Rinse and dry

p.31
 Immersion Silver: Pros and Cons

• Advantages • Disadvantages
Flat/fine pitch Handling
Low cost requirements
• Easily scratched
Excellent wetting
Migration concerns
Good surface contact
• Creep
High throughput
Tarnish and corrosion
Easy process resistance
Excellent solderability Sliding connector
• Not degraded by limitations
assembly conditions

p.32
 Issues at the Fabricator Level
• Copper surface cleanliness
Critical to achieving a successful silver finish
No soldermask residues
• Heavy = skipping of the silver coating
• Fine = may go unnoticed, manifests as a tarnish of pad edges after reflow
Soldermask interface attack
• Fine line connected to a large pad
or through hole area
Proper silver thickness
• Thickness measurements need to be measured with thin foil standards on
the XRF
• Silver thickness below specification will lead to premature tarnish
Tarnish
• Proper processing and handling eliminates the majority of tarnish instances

p.33
 Issues at the OEM Level

• Microvoiding
Small voids occurring at the IMC layer of the solder
joint
Could cause solder joint fracture

p.34
 Microvoid Research

• This defect manifests itself “preferentially” on

soldermask defined pads which are more
difficult to develop properly
• Extensive microvoid research shows that
microvoids can be directly correlated to
soldermask residues and highly active, rough
copper surface topography when all other
Immersion silver conditions are run properly
New cleaners remove soldermask residues
New microetches minimize copper surface area, yet
maintain surface roughness for adhesion

p.35
 Creep Corrosion

Creep corrosion: a metal migration of copper

and sulfur as a result of high humid, high
sulfur bearing environments
• PCB’s are everywhere
Marked increase in pollutants in developing
countries
Placed in diverse industrial environments
• Tire factory, paper mill, automotive design studio
• Even our controlled office environments are not as
clean as we think!

p.36
 Creep Corrosion
Creep Corrosion can occur with almost any final
finish – but is more prevalent on Immersion Silver

OSP

Immersion
Silver

p.37
 Topcoats for Immersion Silver

• Topcoats are used for products with life

expectancy over 15 years in aggressive field
environments where the silver surface is left
unsoldered or in a no-sealed build
Specific topcoats to mitigate creep corrosion
Specific topcoats to mitigate metal peeling and
tarnish

p.38
 ENIG

• Highest revenue surface finish

Applications associated with high reliability
Used in the flex market
• High volume runner
• New deposit thickness specifications
IPC thickness specification is under revision
• High cost of gold
• Hypercorrosion/black pad

p.39
 ENIG Process
• Process steps
Cleaner
Rinse
Microetch
Rinse
Pre dip
Activator
Rinse
Post dip
Electroless Nickel
Rinse
Immersion Gold
Rinse

p.40
 ENIG: Pros and Cons

• Advantages • Disadvantages
High corrosion
resistance due to nickel
barrier
Excellent solderability
Contact resistance
Al wire bondable
No degradation
between cycle reflow
cycles, so it can be
held mid-assembly for
extended times
Many chemical steps
• Difficult processing
• Potential for
extraneous plating,
plating in the NPTH
Expensive
High bath
temperatures leach
soldermask and
substrate materials
Signal loss (RF)

p.41
 Issues at the Fabricator/OEM
• Proper plating conditions and control over the entire
process is critical to performance
Proper chemical addbacks
Numerous chemical analyses – startup and during plating
• Layer thickness
Low EN thickness will result in poor corrosion and thermal
resistance in end use
Gold thickness
• Low: less resistant to thermal conditioning in assembly
• High: promote more EN corrosion – black pad

• Loading factor
Too much or not enough metal area in the plating bath will affect
the plating performance

p.42
 ENIG: Past Issues

• Plating in the NPTH

Both issues resolved with new
cleaners and improved activators

• Extraneous plating

p.43
 ENIG: Black Pad
What is Black Pad/Black Line Nickel/Hypercorrosion?
• Low level defect, not typically detected before
component assembly
Excessive corrosion of the electroless
nickel/phosphorous deposit
• As the immersion gold plates, nickel
is removed from the surface of the
plated EN, leaving phosphorous rich
areas on the surface, observed as black
on this image
• When a solder joint is created with this
surface phosphorous, instead of the EN,
it creates a weak joint which can fracture
Results in improperly formed solder joints
Detected as an open at electrical test after assembly

p.44
 ENIG: Black Pad
Mitigation:
• New electroless nickel chemistry formulations
Higher, consistent phosphorous content uniformly
distributed in the plated deposit makes the nickel more
corrosion resistant
Chemistries contain less sulfur, so it has a reduced
tendency to co-deposit making the nickel more
corrosion resistant
• New immersion gold chemistries
Additive allows the gold bath to operate at lower gold
concentration without sacrificing performance, so the
gold solution is less aggressive to the nickel deposit

p.45
 Measurement of Corrosion – IPC 4552
Corrosion resistance of the electroless nickel deposit

p.46
 ENEPIG

• The gold wire bondable

finish
Also Aluminum wire bonding
• Very low volume associated specifically to PCB
Applications include Medical and US Military
• Has been a topic of interest for many years
• OEMs and fabricators are becoming more
interested in this surface finish

p.47
 ENEPIG Process
Same flow as ENIG, with the added step of electroless
palladium between the nickel and gold
Cleaner
Rinse
Microetch
Rinse
Pre dip
Activator
Rinse
Post dip
Electroless Nickel
Rinse
Electroless Palladium
Immersion Gold

p.48
 ENEPIG: Pros and Cons
• Advantages
High Corrosion
resistance
Excellent solderability
Gold wire bondable
• ENEPIG requires 4µ” Pd
and 1.2µ” Au, while
electrolytic Ni/Au requires
>30µ” Au
Mitigation of black pad
• Pd prevents ImAu from
corroding the nickel
• Disadvantages
Many chemical steps
• Difficult processing
• Potential for
extraneous plating
Very expensive
Long process
Limited availability
• We see this growing
p.49
 Issues at the Fabricator Level

• Same considerations for running ENIG with

added complexity of electroless palladium step
• Low production can mean a lot of down time
Chemistry needs to be well maintained and
monitored
• When baths sit idle at temperature, the bath components
break down and performance is lost

• Thickness measurements are more difficult to

determine with 3 layers of plating
XRFs require calibrations which is difficult using a
standard with 3 layers of plating

p.50
 Issues at the OEM Level

• Too thick Palladium reduces the solderability

performance
Slower to wet
Potentially Palladium rich areas in the solder joint
• Palladium does not readily solubilize into the joint like silver
or gold

p.51
 Thickness Measurements – IPC 4556
IPC 4556 states a thickness of 2-12 # Pd and min of 1.2 µ” Au

•IPC looking to input a gold thickness maximum and place a range of 1.6 to
3.2 or 3.4 microinches – under review.
Old proportional counter XRF units will not be able to measure
these specifications and the fabs will be required to use the
specified standards for calibration

p.52
 Summary: Surface Finishes by Sector
• Data/telecom
Silver, OSP, ENIG
• Automotive
Silver, OSP, ImSn
• High End Consumer
ENIG, Silver, OSP
• Low End Consumer
HASL, OSP
• Aerospace, Defense and High Performance
Electronics
HASL, ImSn, ENIG, ENEPIG
• Medical
ENIG, ENEPIG, Silver

p.53
 Cycle Comparison of Surface Finishes
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Cycle Times 1 2 23 3 2

p.54
 Summary
There is no one surface finish that is suitable for all
applications and environments in the industry
Considerations for Surface Finish Choice Include:
• Lead or lead free assembly
• Cost
• Volume and throughput
• End environment
• Shelf life
• Fine pitch components
• RF applications
• High frequency
• Probeability
• Thermal resistance
• Shock and drop resistance

p.55
THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME!

Robyn J Hanson
MacDermid
June 25, 2015

p.56