Effect of lanthanum doping on the microstructure of tin-silver solder alloys

In this study, quantitative microstructure studies were performed on multiple length scales to investigate the effect of lanthanum (La) doping on Sn-Ag lead-free solder materials. Factors considered in this paper include doping amount, aging temperature, and aging time. It was found that La doping reduces the grain size significantly, and the reduced grain size remains stable during thermal aging. The size of the Ag ₃Sn particles is also greatly reduced by La doping, and the particles coarsen during thermal aging, albeit at a much reduced rate than in the undoped alloy. The rate of particle coarsening can be described by a cubic-root law. Another observation is that the interparticle spacing remains unaffected by the doping. Therefore, higher La doping level leads to higher volume fraction of the eutectic region due to the increased total number of Ag ₃Sn particles.