Confining effect of oxide film on tin whisker growth

doi:10.1016/j.jmst.2019.03.042

Abstract

Abstract:

Spontaneous tin whisker growth has been mysterious and catastrophic for more than half century. The difficulty in the research on this topic consists of the randomness of the whisker growth, the slow growth rate and many other tricky factors. Herein, with Ti₂SnC-Sn as a new platform, fast tin whisker growth is realized to facilitate the research. The whisker morphology is found to be modulated by oxide film. A striated whisker morphology forms as growing in air, whereas a faceted morphology forms in vacuum. Furthermore, the evolution to the faceted morphology is attributed to the reconstruction of the whisker surface driven by surface energy reduction. The findings might open a new avenue to uncover the myths of this long-standing issue, and thus develop a long-awaited lead-free tin whisker mitigation strategy.

Key words: Whisker, MAX phase, Oxide film, Morphology

Yushuang Liu, Peigen Zhang, Jin Yu, Jian Chen, Yamei Zhang, Zhengming Sun. Confining effect of oxide film on tin whisker growth[J]. J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2019, 35(8): 1735-1739.

Figures/Tables 4

Fig. 1. (a) Sn whiskers grown on a Ti2SnC-Sn sample after 2 days, and the sample entirely covered by a forest of Sn whiskers after 30 days (inset). (b) Typical striations on a Sn whisker. (c) Bright-field TEM image of a Sn whisker (the inset shows a SAED pattern). (d) HRTEM image of a selected area of a Sn whisker. (e) Oxide film on whisker surfaces. (f) Poor wettability between molten Sn and Ti2SnC.

Fig. 2. SEM images of a Sn whisker alternately cultivated in air and vacuum for (a) 1 time, (b) 2 times, (c) 3 times, (d) 4 times, and (e) 5 times (faceted segments formed in vacuum were pointed by white arrows). (f)-(h) are the high magnification SEM images of the faceted segments indicated by arrow A in (b), arrow C in (c), and arrow C in (d), respectively.

Fig. 3. (a) Sn whisker with a faceted segment length up to ～10 μm was observed on the sample cultivated in SEM chamber free of electron beam for 12 h. (b) Sn whisker growing on Ti2SnC-Sn substrate and (c) FIB cross-section of the whisker in (b).

Fig. 4. Schematic of the growth process of Sn whisker alternately cultivated in air and vacuum. (a) Sn whisker nucleus in Ti2SnC substrate. (b) Striated Sn whisker formed in air. (c) Faceted Sn whisker formed in vacuum. (d) Sn whisker recovers the striated morphology once it is cultivated in air again.

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