A 3D numerical study of a molten solder droplet's wetting and solidifying on a pillar with application to electronic packaging

Abstract The 3D problem of spreading and solidification of a molten solder droplet (with a melting temperature of Tm and a radius of Rd) on a circular pillar (with a radius Rpillar and a height Hpillar, having a contact angle θpillar at wall temperature Tpillar) above a substrate has important applications in electronic packaging. In this paper, effects of pillar's contact angle and wall temperature on droplet dynamics and solidification of the solder droplet are studied numerically based on a newly developed 3D multi-component, triple- phase-change LB model. For pillar's wall temperature equal to the melting temperature of the molten droplet (Tpillar = Tm), no solidification takes place in the droplet after its contact with the pillar, and droplet's spreading characteristics depend on the pillar's contact angle. If pillar's contact angle (θpillar) is smaller than a critical contact angle (θpillar)cr, i.e., θpillar