Lifetime of solid metals in contact with liquid solders for high-temperature liquid solder assemblies

The rates of barrier layer thickness losses for Ni, Cu, Pt, Ti, V, Nb, Ta and W metallizations in contact with the molten 52In–48Sn solder at 200 °C have been studied. Despite the expected complexity of the kinetics of dissolution and intermetallic compound growth, we demonstrate simple empirical relationships between the lifetimes of 1 μm thick barrier layers and thermodynamic properties such as their melting point, specific heat and latent heat of fusion.