Risk of whiskers formation on the surface of commercially available tin-rich alloys under thermal shocks

Tin whiskers can be dangerous for circuit reliability because of short circuits or device littering. This article presents the results of the studies of whisker formation, after 1500 shocks at the cyclic temperature range of −45 °C to +85 °C, growing on the surface of the commercially available tin-rich materials and alloys used in electronics i.e. pure tin (Sn100), Sn96.5Ag3Cu0.5 and Sn99Ag0.3CuNiGe.