Role of reactant concentration in size control of SnAgCu nanoparticles

Attributing to the melting temperature depressing resulted from the size effect of nanoparticles, the SnAgCu alloy system can be a promising candidate to replace the traditional toxic SnPb solder in the field of electronic packaging. Chemical reduction method was used to fabricate the Sn3.0Ag0.5Cu (SAC) (mass fraction, %) alloy nanoparticles. Sodium borohydride and 1,10-phenanthroline were chosen as the reducing agent and surfactant respectively. In addition, the morphology of the synthesized nanoparticles was investigated by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), and the size distribution of the as-prepared particles was obtained from the image analysis. It was found that the particle size increased with increasing the reactant concentration. Finally, theoretical analysis was employed to illustrate the influence of reactant concentration on the particle size.