Materials Science Forum Vols. 510-511

Abstract: The influence of heat treatment on mechanical properties and textures of a meltextruded Al-4.5wt.%Cu alloy bar was studied. And its characteristics are compared with those of a hot-extruded Al-Cu alloy bar. The results show that the mechanical properties of the melt-extruded Al-Cu alloy bar were slightly higher than those of the hot-extruded bar, and the difference in their mechanical properties was narrowed after the T6 treatment. The recrystallization texture was found in the melt-extruded Al-Cu alloy bar, and the fiber texture of the hot-extruded Al-Cu alloy bar was found different from that of the melt-extruded Al-Cu alloy bar.

Abstract: In this study, the orientation distribution function (ODF), which can be calculated from the pole figure data, was examined and tried in order to characterize the bulky morphology of primary solid phase of semi-solid slurry instead of erroneous 2D observation for the characterization of microstructure. Al-15wt%Cu alloys were electromagnetically stirred during the continuous cooling in the specially designed electromagnetic (EM) stirrer, which generates a rotating magnetic field, and the samples were prepared by interrupt-quenching semi-solid slurry at a solid-liquid region. Owing to EM stirring the temperature distribution of melt inside a crucible became uniformed compared with the case of unstirred melt and the normal dendritic structure was transformed to one consisting of the spherical and rosette shaped primary solid phase due to the fragmentation of the dendrites. Also by the effect of EM stirring the <110>//ND texture were still strongly developed, but the advancement of the orientations to lead <110>//ND texture became weaker, and the orientations to lead <100>//ND and <111>//ND texture were more strongly advanced in comparison with the unstirred case. Therefore the advancement of the texture became weak and so the tendency to random orientation was appeared due to the EM stirring. Therefore it was thought that the extent of random orientation could be valued for the characterization of bulky morphology of primary solid phase of semi-solid slurry.

Abstract: A 16Mb 1-transistor /1-capacitor (1T1C) FeRAM device was fabricated with lead-free Bi3.25La0.75Ti3.0O12 (BLT) capacitors. The key integration processes contain a scalable MTP (Merged Top-electrode and Plate-line) cell structure and reliable BLT ferroelectric capacitors. Ferroelectric properties of BLT films were optimized on the newly developed MTP cell structure. BLT films were coated on Pt/IrOx/Ir bottom electrode using sol-gel solutions. The composition of the optimized BLT film was about Bi3.25La0.75Ti3.0O12. The switchable polarization obtained in a 100nm-thick BLT film was about 20 µC/cm2 at the 3 V applied voltage, and the optimized BLT film showed a few fatigue losses about 10% up to 1 × 1011 cycles. The imprint properties of the BLT film were also characterized at 25°C and 90°C operating temperature after 125°C data storage. The average cell signal sensing margin between data "1" and data "0" was measured to be about 900 mV, which is a sufficiently large margin for device operation.

Abstract: The Ti-Cr systems are known to consist of BCC solid solution, C36, C14, C15 Laves phase at high temperature. Among others, BCC solid solution phase has been reported to have a high hydrogen storage capacity. However, activation, wide range of hysteresis at hydrogenation/dehydrogenation, and degradation of hydrogen capacity due to hydriding/dehydriding cycles have to be improved for its application. In this study, for improving such a problem, we added on Nb. To obtain a target materials, Ti-1Nb-10Cr, Ti-3Nb-10Cr and Ti-5Nb-10Cr specimens were prepared by planetary ball mill. The milling process was carried out under nitrogen atmosphere. Specimens synthesized were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and thermo gravimetric analysis/differential scanning calorimetry(TG/DSC). In order to examine hydrogen absorption kinetics, Sievert's type automatic pressure-composition- isotherm (PCI) was performed at 293, 323 , 373 and 423K under 1, 5MPa hydrogen atmosphere.

Abstract: In an approach to acclimate ourselves to the recent ecological consciousness trends, a lead free piezoelectric material, bismuth sodium barium titanate (Bi0.5Na0.5)0.94Ba0.06TiO3 (BNBT), was considered as an environment-friendly alternative to the PZT system. A perovskite BNBT was synthesized by the conventional bulk ceramic processing technique.
La2O3 as a dopant was incorporated into the BNBT system up to 0.025 mol, and the doping effects on subsequent piezoelectric and dielectric properties were systematically investigated. In the case of La2O3 addition, the formation of grain boundary coherency was remarkably increased, and the sintered density was increased with increasing La2O3 contents. Piezoelectric and dielectric properties were shown to have the maximum value at 0.02 mol of La2O3 addition. La3+ ions were believed to act as a softener in the BNBT system and to enhance dielectric and piezoelectric properties in this study.

Abstract: Since the discovery of relaxor behavior in Pb(Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O3 (referred to as PMN), the studies of relaxor ferroelectrics with Pb(B'1/3B"2/3)O3 type perovskites have intensified because of their excellent dielectric and electromechanical properties. The present study is mainly focused on the quantitative analysis of micro-macro domain transition, using dielectric spectroscopy, hot-stage TEM. The deviation from Curie-Weiss behavior was investigated over a broad range of temperature. As the relative contents of PbZrO3 increased, the Curie-Weiss temperature decreased, while the Curie-Weiss constant increased. However, the Lorentz polarization factor (γ) decreased with increasing PbZrO3 content, indicating an enhanced relaxor behavior in the PNN-PT-PZ(x) system at higher PZ content. A microscopic examination demonstrates that the relaxor-normal ferroelectric transition corresponds to a micro-macro domain switching. The long-range ferroelectric domains below the transition temperature were characterized by twin-like 90o macro domains with tetragonal symmetry and by the subdomains, which presumably relieves the internal electrostrictive strains associated with the polarization nonuniformity caused by the polar nanodomains.

Abstract: The effects of void formation on the joint strength and failure mode of the solder joints were examined. A computational modeling technique, i.e., finite element modeling, was employed to investigate the effects. The effects of location, size and number of void were also investigated and compared with the case that has no void in the solder ball. When there was 1 or more voids in the solder ball, the joint strength decreased regardless of the location, size, and number of voids. Especially, the shear force of the joints decreased about 50% when 3 voids were formed in the solder ball. From the stress analyses, the possibility of preliminary brittle interfacial failure should be lower when voids were formed in the solder ball.

Abstract: The interfacial reaction and joint strength of the Pb-free flip chip solder joints were investigated. Microstructural investigations were conducted using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and phase analysis of the intermetallic compound (IMC) was carried out using energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS). Cu6Sn5 IMC layer was formed at the as-reflowed state, and Cu3Sn was additionally settled at the interface between the Cu6Sn5 and Cu under bump metallurgy (UBM). Growth of the IMC layers followed the parabolic law, while the IMC layer growth was not highly affecting the mechanical properties of the solder joints. The shear force of the solder joints decreased because of the microstructural coarsening within the solder region.

Abstract: The interfacial reaction between eutectic Sn-3.5Ag solder and ENIG substrate during reflow was investigated. During the reflow, the topmost Au layer dissolved into the molten solder, and the reaction layers of Ni3Sn4/Ni-Sn-P/Ni3P formed between Sn-Ag solder and Ni-P plating layer. After the reflow at 255 for 3 min, most of Ni3Sn4 intermetallic compound (IMC) spalled off the substrate. The formation of thick Ni3P and Ni-Sn-P layers was related to the direct reaction between solder and Ni-Sn-P layer by the IMC spalling.

Abstract: Thermal fatigue properties of solder joints encapsulated with underfill were studied conducting thermal shock tests. Flip chip package with electroless nickel-immersion gold plated on FR-4 substrate and the Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu solder ball was used. The fatigue property of package with underfill was better than the package without it. The fatigue property of package with underfill which has a higher glass transition temperature (Tg) and lower coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) was better than that of package with underfill with lower Tg and higher CTE.