Sn whiskers are thin filaments that grow spontaneously out of the surface of coatings on Cu
and have become a critical reliability problem in Pb-free electronics. In this review, we focus …

Spontaneous metal whisker growth phenomenon has been studied for∼ 70 years, but still
resists interpretations, which has haunted the electronics-rich systems from the birth of the …

The evolution of residual stress gradients in Sn thin films on Cu substrates upon aging at
ambient temperature has been investigated, for specimens which do exhibit and which do …

It has been shown experimentally that local in-plane residual strain gradients occur around
the root of spontaneously growing Sn whiskers on the surface of Sn coatings deposited on …

Abstract Sn–Ag–Cu (SAC) alloys are regarded as the most promising alternative for
traditional Pb–Sn solders used in electronic packaging applications. However, the higher …

It has recently been documented that Pb-free solder alloys doped with trace amounts of rare
earth (RE) elements show a very strong propensity to grow Sn whiskers. In this work, we …

Studies of materials on mesoscopic length‐scales require a penetrating structural probe with
submicron point‐to‐point spatial resolution. The principle research activities at beamline 34 …

Tin whiskers with different morphologies form on SnAg microbumps under long-term
compressive stress. High resolution transmission electron microscopy results reveal that …

We report on real-time measurements that enable us to watch the morphology of whiskers
and hillocks forming in real-time and provide insight into the mechanisms controlling their …

Stress due to intermetallic (IMC) growth is generally accepted as the driving force for Sn
whisker formation, but there are still many unanswered questions regarding the …