The use of nickel/aluminum explosively reactive nanolayers as localized heat sources in solder joints

Although solder reflow continues to be the current state of the art in joining technology, conventional reflow makes use of furnace heating, in which all components must be exposed to temperatures higher than the melting temperature of the solder. Damaging temperature sensitive components and thermal stresses involved in joining materials of different thermal expansion coefficients are critical drawbacks in using furnace heating. An alternative heat source is provided by Ni/Al reactive nanolayer foils, which is a material comprised of thousands of alternating, nanoscale layers of Al and Ni. A small pulse of energy in the form of an electric spark ignites the reaction by initiating interlayer atomic diffusion. The reaction between these layers is exothermic, releasing enough heat to allow the reaction to propagate through the remainder of the sample. Due to its shape and localized nature of heat released, solder can be melted without heating layers beyond the solder, such as temperature sensitive bond components.;In this study, a process is developed to integrate Ni/Al reactive nanolayer foils into bond structures using materials in current technologies. Si/solder/Si and Cu/solder/Cu solder joints are fabricated by reactive nanolayer soldering and are used to study the microstructure and mechanical properties. The microstructural and chemical analysis are performed using scanning and transmission electron microscopy and as well as X-Ray diffraction and energy dispersive analysis, respectively. Single-lap shear testing, through-thickness tensile testing, in-situ nanocompression, and nanoindentation are used to characterize the mechanical strength.;Ni/Al nanolayers become a single phase, nanocrystalline NiAl phase as a result of the explosive reaction. The wetting of Sn-based solders is good on this layer, as evidenced by the interlocking branched microstructure as well as the formation of Ni3Sn4 at the interface. A joint shear strength of approximately 30 MPa was yielded when the initial temperature was 70°C and the applied pressure was 15 MPa. In-situ nanocompression results show the direct observation of <110> slip and nanoindentation analysis showed that the NiAI layer has large compressive residual stress.