Mitigation of whisker growth in electroplated tin coatings by alloying with Indium

Abstract

We have demonstrated that an electroplated tin coating containing a small amount of indium leads to a total elimination of tin-whisker formation. Because of the small amount of indium involved, this breakthrough whisker-elimination approach proffers a cost-effective, lead-free tin-plating approach for electronics packaging applications that require Level II or Level III reliability (i.e., high to very-high reliability and/or lifetime). We are currently forming partnerships for the development and manufacture of commercial electroplating baths and expect these to become commercially available in 2017.

Applications

-defense, aerospace, health care, automotive and server electronics markets.

Publications

L. Meinshausen, S. Bhashyantham, B. Majumdar, and I. Dutta, "Influence of Indium Addition on Whisker Mitigation in Electroplated Tin Coatings on Copper Substrates", J. Electronic Mater., 45 (1), 2016, 791-801. 

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