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This study aims to investigate the NiO nano-reinforced solder joint characteristics of ultra-fine electronic package.

Lead-free Sn-Ag-Cu (SAC) solder paste was mixed with various percentages of NiO nanoparticles to prepare the new form of nano-reinforced solder paste. The solder paste was applied to assemble the ultra-fine capacitor using the reflow soldering process. A focussed ion beam, high resolution transmission electron microscopy system equipped with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) was used in this study. In addition, X-ray inspection system, field emission scanning electron microscopy coupled with EDS, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and nanoindenter were used to analyse the solder void, microstructure, hardness and fillet height of the solder joint.

The experimental results revealed that the highest fillet height was obtained with the content of 0.01 Wt.% of nano-reinforced NiO, which fulfilled the reliability requirements of the international IPC standard. However, the presence of the NiO in the lead-free solder paste only slightly influenced the changes of the intermetallic layer with the increment of weighted percentage. Moreover, the simulation method was applied to observe the distribution of NiO nanoparticles in the solder joint.

The findings are expected to provide a profound understanding of nano-reinforced solder joint’s characteristics of the ultra-fine package.

This paper aims to investigate the characteristics of ultra-fine lead-free solder joints reinforced with TiO₂ nanoparticles in an electronic assembly.

This study focused on the microstructure and quality of solder joints. Various percentages of TiO₂ nanoparticles were mixed with a lead-free Sn-3.5Ag-0.7Cu solder paste. This new form of nano-reinforced lead-free solder paste was used to assemble a miniature package consisting of an ultra-fine capacitor on a printed circuit board by means of a reflow soldering process. The microstructure and the fillet height were investigated using a focused ion beam, a high-resolution transmission electron microscope system equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS), and a field emission scanning electron microscope coupled with an EDS and X-ray diffraction machine.

The experimental results revealed that the intermetallic compound with the lowest thickness was produced by the nano-reinforced solder with a TiO₂ content of 0.05 Wt.%. Increasing the TiO₂ content to 0.15 Wt.% led to an improvement in the fillet height. The characteristics of the solder joint fulfilled the reliability requirements of the IPC standards.

This study provides engineers with a profound understanding of the characteristics of ultra-fine nano-reinforced solder joint packages in the microelectronics industry.

The findings are expected to provide proper guidelines and references with regard to the manufacture of miniaturized electronic packages. This study also explored the effects of TiO₂ on the microstructure and the fillet height of ultra-fine capacitors.

This paper aims to investigate the influence of temperature and lignin concentration on the inhibition of carbon steel corrosion in 1 M HCl.

Weight loss corrosion tests were performed at different temperatures in the range of 30-70°C (303-343 K).

It was found that the corrosion inhibition efficiency (IE) of lignin on the carbon steel decreased when the temperature was increased from 60 to 70°C. However, at lower temperatures ranging from 30 to 50°C, the IE improved, due to occurrence of lignin adsorption on the surface of metal specimens. The IE was higher with increasing lignin concentration, thus reducing the weight loss of the carbon steel. The adsorption phenomenon involved exothermic processes because the value of enthalpy of adsorption (ΔH°_ads) < 0 and Gibbs free energy of adsorption (ΔG°_ads) were less negative with increase in temperature. The entropy of adsorption (ΔS°_ads) had negative values, representing the decrease in disorder of adsorption. The adsorption of lignin on the carbon steel surface in 1 M HCl was comprehensive, as deduced from kinetic and thermodynamic parameters. However, physisorption was the major contributor in the inhibition mechanism. The inhibitive features of carbon steel surfaces showed less damage once the steel was treated in lignin, as evident from macroscopy images.

The use of lignin as an acid corrosion inhibitor at high temperature is practical in metal surface treatment process.

The use of organic compounds gives an advantage to the environment, universal health and save cost, as the compounds can be found in nature.

Lignin can act as a flexible corrosion inhibitor within the temperature range of 30-70°C in 1 M HCl because it exhibits comprehensive adsorption (i.e. a combination of both physisorption and chemisorption) at specific concentrations.