Precipitation and coarsening of bismuth plates in Sn–Ag–Cu–Bi and Sn–Cu–Ni–Bi solder joints

In recent years there has been increased interest in Bi-containing solders to improve the reliability of electronics and drive down processing temperatures. When the Bi content is more than ~ 2 wt% in Sn–Ag–Cu–Bi and Sn–Cu–Ni–Bi solders, (Bi) phase forms by a non-equilibrium eutectic reaction and also precipitates in the solid state. Here, we study the development of bismuth plates during room temperature storage in a range of Bi-containing solders. It is shown that Bi plates precipitate with one of two (Bi)–βSn orientation relationships (ORs). During coarsening the OR with the better lattice match grows at the expense of the other, leading to a single OR. The plate coarsening kinetics scale with the cube root of holding time and are relatively rapid, with plates exceeding 1 µm in length within 1 day at room temperature. Prolonged room temperature storage of more than 1 year resulted in Bi accumulation in 5–20 µm (Bi) particles at βSn grain boundaries.