Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Applied Nanoscience https://doi.org/10.1007/s13204-020-01325-x ORIGINAL ARTICLE Nanocomposite SAC solders: the eﬀect of adding CoPd nanoparticles on the morphology and the shear strength of the Sn–3.0Ag–0.5Cu/Cu solder joints Andriy Yakymovych 1 · Adam Slabon 2 · Peter Švec Sr 3 · Yuriy Plevachuk 4 · Lubomir Orovcik 5 · Otto Bajana 5 Received: 25 November 2019 / Accepted: 25 February 2020 © King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology 2020 Abstract The eﬀect of bimetallic monodisperse CoPd nanoparticles on the microstructure and the shear strength of the Cu/ SAC305/ Cu solder joint was investigated. The nanocomposite Sn–3.0Ag–0.5Cu (SAC305) solders with 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, and 1.0 wt% nanoCoPd were prepared through a paste mixing method. The employed bimetallic nanoparticles were produced via a modi- ﬁed oleylamine method. The microstructural analysis of as-solidiﬁed Cu/solder/Cu joints was performed by scanning electron microscopy. The results showed that initial additions of CoPd nanoparticles into the SAC305 solder promoted the growth of the interfacial planar-type Cu 3 Sn IMC layer; while the average thickness of the interfacial scallop-type Cu 6 Sn 5 IMC layer slightly decreased. Further additions of the nanosized CoPd admixtures to the SAC305 solder paste lead to a signiﬁcant increase of the average thickness of the Cu 6 Sn 5 intermetallic compound layer up to 40%. The shear strength measurements were performed to investigate a relationship between the microstructure and mechanical properties of the investigated solder joints. The results indicated a decrease in the shear strength of the SAC305 solder joint by addition of 0.1 wt% CoPd NPs, while a diﬀerence in absolute values between solder joints with 0.3, 0.5, and 1.0 wt% nanoCoPd was practically insigniﬁcant. Keywords Sn–3.0Ag–0.5Cu · CoPd nanoparticles · Microstructure · Shear strength Introduction The development of commercial solder joint is focused nowadays on reinforcement of lead-free Sn-based solders with ceramic or metal nanoparticles (NPs). For instance, a profound impact of various pure metal NPs such as Al, Co, and Ni on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Sn–Ag–Cu (SAC) solders was shown by Sun et al. (2016); Yakymovych et al. (2017a, b); Tay et al. (2013). The reduc- tion of the average size of the intermetallic compound (IMC) layer at the interface solder/substrate using nanocomposite SAC solders with metal NPs is explained by their dissolution in Sn-based solder during the soldering process with further impact through an alloying eﬀect. The inﬂuence of ceramic NPs coated with a metal sheath, manifested in changes in the morphology and thickness of the interfacial IMC on the surface solder/substrate, has been described in several studies (Plevachuk et al. 2019; Chen et al. 2018). It was shown that minor additions of Au-coated carbon nanotubes suppressed the growth of the intermetallic com- pound layer at the interface solder/Cu. A few recent studies * Andriy Yakymovych yakymovychandriy@gmail.com * Yuriy Plevachuk plevachuk@mail.lviv.ua 1 Department of Inorganic Chemistry - Functional Materials, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Vienna, Althanstr. 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria 2 Department of Materials and Environmental Chemistry, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden 3 Department of Metal Physics, Institute of Physics, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dubravska cesta 9, 84511 Bratislava, Slovakia 4 Department of Metal Physics, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Kyrylo and Mephodiy str. 8, Lviv 79005, Ukraine 5 Institute of Materials and Machine Mechanics, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dubravska cesta 9, 84511 Bratislava, Slovakia