Production of fine spherical lead-free solder powders by hybrid atomization

Considerable R&D efforts in last decade have identified several promising lead-free tin alloys for the replacement of lead-containing solders in microelectronic applications. However, it is difficult or uneconomical to produce high-quality solder balls industrially by means of conventional atomization methods. To produce acceptable lead-free solder balls efficiently and industrially, a novel powder-making process change to active voice. Hybrid Atomization that combines free fall gas atomization and centrifugal atomization effectively, was invented and developed recently by us. This new technique can produce very fine, spherical tin alloy powders with mean diameters of about 10 μm, very narrow size distributions, few satellites and low production costs. Taking Sn-9mass%Zn alloy as an example, process experiments were carried out and the optimal processing conditions obtained. Results show that the influences of processing parameters and optimum conditions are very different from those in conventional atomization processes. The spherical powder with a mean particle size of 10.6 μm and a standard deviation of 1.3-1.7 μm was obtained in the determined optimum condition.