Halogen Free

Indium Corporation (I say "Indium Corporation": it's actually me and my colleague Tim Jensen) is in the middle of drafting a position statement on halogen-free electronics and semiconductor assembly materials. In talking to Tim, who is Indium's guru on all matters related to the drive towards halogen-free, we became rather confused by something that is missing in the debate.

We know that the current best method for preparing "halogens" in flux materials for quantitative analysis, is to convert the two different chemical types (ionic and covalent) to the ionic halide salts by using a so-called "oxygen bomb", whereby the material to be tested is placed in a metal chamber that is pressurized with oxygen and then heated. The residue in the chamber is then eluted with a known quantity of a halogen-free solvent (usually water), and analyzed. For the former boy scouts and girl guides amongst you, you will recall that burning a piece of wood leaves behind a lot of residual ash. Tim and I realized that there is something wrong with this if the material is a pure organic flux: which is a much simpler material than wood. For the non-chemists among you, this is the issue:

A standard organic flux material, as used in SMT, Semiconductor Assembly or Power Semiconductor Assembly, is a mixture of several different organic chamicals. It can be represented generically as:

C(a) H(b) N(c) O(d) Y(e), where C is carbon, H is hydrogen, N is nitrogen, O is oxygen and Y is a halogen (the usual ones of interest are chlorine, Cl, and bromine, Br). (a) to (e) are simple ratios.

If you then heat this in oxygen to the point of complete combustion (reaction with oxygen), the end products are therefore:

CO(2) , H(2)O, NO(2), residual oxygen gas (O(2) and .....some product from Y.

The assumption has always been that the Y will be a solid ionic halide, of form X(f)Y(g).

So what is "X" here, the metallic cation to balance the halide anion, "Y"? Whatdunnit? The simple answer is that it is probably a reaction with the inside of the metallic container, which is usually steel (so Cr or Fe or Ni could be correct). Other theories involving the acid formation (HY) are probably wrong, as the vapor pressure is too high. Theories about oxides of halogen also don't hold up to scrutiny, either because in YO(j), the Y halogen is in the wrong oxidation state (plus not minus) or they are unstable or a combination of both.

What do you think is going on here?

Cheers!

Andy

A lot has changed in the world of package-on-package in the last few years.  The most obvious change that I have seen is the development of specialized pastes for component dipping.  If you haven’t tried one of these pastes, here are 8 reasons why you should:

8)       More consistent transfer over time

7)       Head-in-pillow elimination

6)       Better wetting to a range of alloys

5)       Optimized metal loading

4)       Specially designed powder distribution

3)       Halogen-free flux formulations

2)       Maximized transfer volumes

1)       Higher possible yields

Shhhh.  Don't tell anyone but I have a secret.  The activators used in halogen-free solder pastes aren't as effective as their halogen contained counterparts.  The real secret is coming up with a technology that overcomes the deficiency.  Indium Corporation's approach to this has been to focus on the oxidation barrier of the solder paste.  The theory here is that if you can prevent oxidation from occurring through the preheat and soak stages of the reflow process, then the activators have to work less to remove oxides.  Indium Corporation used this approach in developing the Indium8.9HF solder paste.  This solder paste clearly outperforms most solder pastes in reducing head-in-pillow and graping defects by preventing oxidation.

Team Indium: (LtoR) Mario Scalzo, Pat Ryan, Dana Ebensperger, Bill Manning, Greg Evans, Anita Brown and Ed Gudlauski

I would like to take a moment and talk about something that has nothing to do with Head-in-pillow defects, Halogen-free solder paste or Pb-Free solder reflow.

When I was in High School in 1993, an adorable little girl was abducted less than 3 miles from my home.  This was an outrageous crime in a sleepy little New York town!

To raise awareness of this heinous crime, a group of 7 courageous bicyclists rode to Washington DC to raise awareness and preach children's safety along the way, arriving in DC on May 25th, the first National Missing Children's Day.

12 years later, over 400 riders, like us on Indium's team, ride 100 miles every May to commemorate this ride and to raise funding for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which works hand-in-hand with Law Enforcement to spread knowledge of and retrieval of missing kids.  We will always wear pink and blue in remembrance of that little girl, back in 1993 that was never found.

Our mission is "to make our children safer...one child at a time".  We have helped reunite 3000 of over 4600 missing children in 2008 with their parents and loved ones!

Donations are greatly appreciated and can be given on-line at Active.com/donate/RMFCCNY/MarioScalzo.  More information on our cause and our history can be found at RideForMissingChildren.com.

One of these chameleons was my former pet, the other was a fake model.  Interestingly, they are the same if you only ask certain questions about them.

·          Is it green?

·          Is it a lizard?

·          Does it have four legs?

The difference becomes apparent when you start asking the right questions

• Does it change color?
• What does it eat?
• Is it alive?

You must also ask the proper questions regarding halogen-free ball attach fluxes and flip-chip fluxes.

• How is it tested?
• What is the ppm level of Br, Cl, F?
• Does the material pass per j-std-709?

Make sure your getting the “Real Green”.

The question often arises as to whether or not a water wash solder paste should be halogen-free.  Since halogen-free is fundimentally an environmental issue, the key concern is all the materials that remain on the PCB when it is in the finished product.  Since the flux residue of a water wash solder paste needs to be cleaned after processing, there should be no residue remaining on the board.

I have also heard comments such as: "I need a halogen-free water wash solder paste because I don't want to risk halogen presence on the board if I don't end up properly cleaning it."   The issue here is that improperly cleaning a water wash paste is actually an electrical reliability issue (regardless of whether or not it contains halogens).  That residue remaining has a good chance of promoting corrosion and dendritic growth.  Making a halogen-free decision based on a lack of confidence in your process doesn't make sense to me!

This year we tried to plan something a little different for APEX.  Instead of the normal booth, we used the space as a meeting place for people to come and talk with other engineers (from Indium and other companies), charge their cell phone, and eat a healthy snack.  If you have been to any tradeshow in your life you'll understand – this was an oasis.

Many people that did not participate in APEX are asking what it was like, especially in light of the predicted drop in attendance.  We spoke with a few of the Indium members who made it out to Vegas this year to sum up APEX 2009:

Rick Short told us "…attendance was 25 to 30% lower than in 2008.  That said, the quality of the attendee was unusually high (KEY decision makers) and the number of really good leads that we captured was high.  We spent about 25% of what we spent in 2008 on the exhibit and did much better (leads)."

Dave Sbiroli mentioned "It's the same core group of industry experts that attend the show" in reference to the technical presentations and industry meetings.

Brandon Judd commented "Although we are in the middle of an economic downturn, there was definitely no lack of interest in Indium's solder products at this year's APEX EXPO in Las Vegas.  In fact, it was quite the contrary.  Several customers, both current and potential, approached our booth with new and exciting applications that show there just may be a light at the end of the tunnel for our industry."

Tim Jensen had this to say, "This year's APEX was probably the best in recent history.  While the attendance was down from last year, those who did attend came with a specific purpose: to educate themselves and solve their current issues.  At Indium Corporation, we were busy educating customers on the implications of going halogen-free and helping to address their current Pb-Free production challenges."

Pictured here is an FP-3082R turbocharger that is used on a Mitsubishi Eclipse.  In very general terms – a turbocharger helps small engines create the same amount of power as (or more than) a larger engine.  When correctly designed and applied, a turbocharged engine can be very efficient.

Although I don’t design flux, I notice the paradox that is involved with creating powerful halogen-free fluxes.  The halogens in fluxes made them more active, but now flux designers need to find other ways to formulate strong fluxes.  The new activators compensate for halogens in the way a turbocharger compensates for engine displacement.  Halogen-free fluxes can be as powerful as traditional halogen based fluxes, and they will probably obsolete many halogen containing fluxes in the future.

Don’t’ expect a simple answer – that depends on your application.  

If you are looking for a solder paste, NC-SMQ80 is the flux vehicle of choice.  For spray applications 5RMA has a strong following on Au substrate applications.  For niche ball attach or specialty processes needing a tacky flux, WS-363 delivers the best wetting on ENIG (see attached chart), but WS-575 has a more useable rheology for pin-transfer.  PoP Flux 030B is your ticket in no-clean applications at these low temperatures.

Did I mention all these options are Halogen-Free?

A recent interview with Andy Mackie,(Ph.D., Indium Corporation)in Advanced Packaging Magazine helped shed some light on where the semiconductor packaging industry is headed.  Key points of discussion include halogen-free, no-clean ball-attach fluxes, ultra-low residue power die-attach considerations.

下面的录像slide跳动太快了，现在给大家post一些技术方面关于无卤素的信息。 Enjoy!!

Indium Corporation is a big proponant of using the EN14582 oxygen bomb test method for halogen determination.  However, we have seen misleading reports from major test labs when using this test method for solder pastes.  Since the industry is concerned about what remains on the final electronics device when consumers receive it, testing of solder pastes should look at the material that remains on the board after assembly.  Here are some basic facts about solder paste to make my point clearer:

• Halogens would only be present in the flux portion of solder pastes
• Pb-Free solder paste is approximately 89% metal and 11% flux (by weight)
• During the reflow process, approximately 50-60% of the flux volatilizes

Why are these points important?  What I am seeing more and more often is the oxygen bomb report on the solder paste when the flux residue is clearly what is important.  If the report shows that a solder paste has no halogens detected (N/D), it still could be in violation of what the electronics companies want.  Let's assume that in solder paste form, the actual halogen content was 50 ppm of Br (which would often be N/D due to equipment capabilities).   Since the halogen is coming from the flux, that means we have 455 ppm of Br in the flux (50/11%) .  During reflow, let's assume that 60% of the flux volatilizes.  Very little, if any, of the halogen is part of that volatile constituant.  Therefore, if there was 455 ppm of Br before reflow, there will be about 1137 ppm of Br in the flux residue (455/40%).  This is higher than the 1000 ppm allowable maximum recommended by the J-STD-709.

Therefore, it is unacceptable to test solder paste for halogen content.  Even if there is no halogen detected in the solder paste, the flux residue still could be above the acceptable limit.  Be sure the solder paste vendor is at least testing the flux (if not the flux residue).

下面这个3分多钟小短片，将会和大家分享：

1. 为什么要在电子加工制造行业(OEM, ODM, EMS)建议实施材料无卤素(Halogen-Free).
2. 一些无卤素的基本小知识。

更多信息，请参阅 www. indium. net. cn

Halogen-Free

Ann Taylor LOFT

Indium公司的焊接材料事业部门响应业界环保的大趋势，又推出了一款全新的无卤素焊锡膏Indium 8.9HF。这款solder paste的助焊剂和助焊剂残留均满足无卤要求，有卓越的印刷转移率和停滞后响应速度，无枕头现象，也不会不发生坍塌。我们为大家录制的无卤素相关小短片终于快"上影"了，争取下周吧。

Welcome to the Power Semiconductor Assembly Blog, Indium Corporation's information watercooler for the Power Semiconductor assembly industry. Some of the topics we will be covering in the coming months are:

-          Pb-free and European legislation in die-attach materials
-          Solder alloy limitations
-          Comparison of die-attach processes
-          Types of component and alloy suitability
-          Failure modes
-          Die-attach wire
-          No-clean and die-attach
-          Halogen-free die-attach and the Green perspective
-          Solder paste life
-          Oxide level measurement and die-attach wire needs
-          Wire-bonding
-          Solder cracking
-          Major control factors in failure modes
-          Thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity

This is your meeting point: let us know how Indium Corporation can help you!

Make Your Own Opportunity

半年前读了美国著名市场管理类作者Peter Druker的文章"The Five Deadly Business Sins"。其中最后一条"Feeding Problems and Straving Opportunities" ("喂饱"了问题，"饿坏"了机会)

"Everyday there is a new question. That's how we keep the business going." (每天都有一个新问题，这是让生意运转的原因。) 在Druker的这个第五条原理下，我们应该把公司有潜力的人用在开发新业务，新机会方面；而不是让他们每天忙于解决不能为公司产生更多效益的问题上。这条原理或许更适用于公司的管理层。

再回首一下自己在过去一年中，一个月里，甚至每一天的工作，有哪些是在解决问题，有哪些又是在开发新机会。解决问题的事，我经常做；开发新机会，也帮着干吧。比如前段时间的LED市场工作，Indium公司除了要做到技术领先，产品领先，还要全球市场领先；最近又在update全球的竞争对手信息，研究客户，洞察市场，剖析对手，百战百胜……(大经济环境不好，一些"不健康"的对手也开始被并购，或是销声匿迹了；优胜劣汰也。)  

当然，很多时候问题不能不解决，不然会有更大的影响。在大公司里，如果本来部门的职责有明确的划分，比如"企业发展策划部"，"客户关系维护部"等，那么解决问题还是发展机会，本来就已经划分好了，各个部门都是必需的，孰轻孰重也不好说；两者很多时候也是相辅相成的。或许，经常问问自己，我的工作有没有给公司创造价值（bring in value）就好。价值或大或小；高楼矮房都是需要钢材，但更需砖砖瓦瓦。干好自己的工作就好。

PS: 本来想在此时和大家分享无卤化(Halogen-Free)的短片的，接着也好和大家分享一下焊接材料的新技术和新产品，但是短片"难产"，下周吧。

Pic: http://connected121.ning.com/ 

Tim Jensen is one of the leading experts on the “green” movement.  Tim hosts the Halogen-Free Blog - which is a great source of current HF information.  It seems only fitting to have him here to share some insight on the topic.

Jim:  Many of the readers of the Semiconductor Packaging Blog are concerned with the “halogen-free movement”, other than www.Halogen-Free.com, where else can we find more information on the topic?  Where do you find the latest news?

Tim: The IPC is about to publish their J-STD-709 “Low Halogen Standard.”  That will be a very useful guideline on what parts of electronics assemblies may contain halogens and some of the potential challenges in implementing halogen-free alternatives.  The IPC (www.ipc.org) also offers many technical programs geared toward green electronics and halogen-free.  One such example (and an example of self-promotion) is at the APEX tradeshow at the end of March where Dr. Lasky and I will be presenting a ½ day workshop on halogen-free.

Jim:  A half-day workshop demands a lot of material.  I imagine the workshop must be quite in-depth, what does it consist of?

Tim: The workshop will cover some of the historical trends that have lead companies to develop “greener” and halogen-free electronics.  The majority of the discussion will be about the “green” legislation around the globe and how halogen-free affects the electronics assembly process and end product reliability.

Jim: There are still holdouts for pb-free legislation.  What do you say to anyone resisting the halogen-free movement?

Tim: Halogen-free is probably less about legislation than Pb-Free was.  In the case of Pb-Free, the European RoHS Directive basically mandated that if you were to sell into the EU then the product had to be without Pb.  For halogen-free, there are some legislative influences but the primary influence is the consumer buying response to items that are deemed more environmentally friendly.  For both Pb-Free and Halogen-Free, there are very specific and very different business decisions that will determine if and how a company makes that transition.

Jim: Last words?

Tim: The “green” movement in electronics will dramatically affect the assemblers.  It will be critical for them to understand how material properties will change and what they need to do to minimize the impact on assembly yields and product reliability.

IP Protection

上周在和mentor Rick为大家录制关于无卤化(Halogen-free)的短片，我提供了一首背景音乐。当Rick知道我的音乐是从朋友那里复制的，他马上拒绝使用。"Anny, 你和你的朋友都不该这样做。""不好意思，我不该提供这歌。""你买了一本书，自己阅读，或是借给别人，没问题，还是只有一本书；但是你或别人拿书去复印了，就不行，因为出书人没有因为他/她创造的价值收两份书的钱。音乐/CD的使用，同样道理。""Rick,我一时间忘记了，以后只要我在西方国家，会注意的。""Anny,你要fundamentally改变你的意识，并养成一种习惯，无论你在哪里，这样对你的职业生涯有帮助。""但是如果我在中国都这样想和做的话，会成为一个怪人的"我马上'回敬'。"伟大的领导者很多都是'怪人'。"……我看着Rick深邃的眼睛，很久没有说话。

美国这个法制和公民意识相对成体系的国家十分注重integrity(正直)。自从来了美国读书工作后，我很注意美国人的"Honor Code"。比如说做作业，写论文时，引用了别人的话/图片，我会加注解。写公司博客或是做presentation的各种资源出处，我也从不含糊。但在心底里，我还是有中国人意识：平时私下与友人们"分享"音乐/各种资料什么的，很平常……再回想自己的骨子里的意识和行为为什么如此"灵活"，或许与自己的成长环境，受教育环境，甚至是我们祖国的文化有关。小学时，有一次我把自己的作业"商业化"，被老师狠批了一顿；中学时，同学们之间非大考场合的"友情分享"，比比皆是；大学时，许多"灵活"的行为蔚然成风。不单单是我，大我们几岁的上一代/几代和我们许许多多的下一代，也是在这种文化/环境中成长的。这几年，"山寨机""山寨文化"更是成为一种中国的新时尚。上寨机能存在，不仅仅是因为有市场，有"贫富差距---大家都追求时尚生活"的影子，或许更多与祖国法制/市场机制/社会体制的健全性，公民意识的从小培养，甚至我们中华文化的一些影响有关。

在Indium这个美国公司工作了两年，从工作中我很深切地感受到美国人是如此地重视，保护，与尊重知识产权(Intellectual Property: IP),专利(patent), 商标权(trademark),版权(copyright)等等。但也只有在这样的环境中，更多高精新科技才会有很好的孕育和发展平台，创新才真正能得到鼓励；市场机制能也保证企业间的竞争与合作并行不悖……这几年祖国在大力鼓励中小企业发展，鼓励年轻人创业，但是年轻企业的蓬勃发展后，会不会遇到" 知识产权"类似的相关瓶颈呢？整个社会那时会有更好的市场机制吗？我们整体的公民意识会是怎么样呢？西方的总多外资企业会对我们祖国总体的情况会改观吗？有更多在技术/研发方面的投资，让我们祖国总多的科技精英们有更好的发挥平台和成长空间吗？……

说多了，有点醉了。个人的力量很单薄。但是有些事情还是得从自己做起。希望伟大的中华人民共和国日益强盛，永远在世界舞台上屹立不倒！！！

Pic: http://www.2ip-solution.com/images/Web_14_M.jpg 

PBDEs in the food we intake 我们吃的东西中含卤物质的上升趋势

A Chinese Child Sits Among E-Waste

下周会给大家录制一个关于无卤化的简介录像。现在先和大家分享一些小知识： 

看见这个可怜的中国儿童坐在e-waste中收集电线了吗？中国，或是第三世界国家，有成千上万的儿童（甚至是成人）每天都在重复地干这种事情。如果生活所迫让他们只能如此，如果全世界的发展和社会的进步不能在短期内改变他们的命运的话，那我们可不可以尽点绵力呢？你在为一个有"社会责任感"（Corporate Social Responsibility）的企业工作吗？

今天，你无卤化了吗？  

Pic: 1. Indium's Presentation.  2. Anny's Previous Blog Post.