In microelectronics, components are attached to circuit boards with a material that can carry the electrical signals through and form a strong mechanical bond, known as solder. The mechanical properties and joint reliability of solders strongly depend on the physical metallurgy and microstructure. Understanding the behavior of existing solders and developing new ones requires a complete understanding of the system such as solidification, aging, and intermetallic formation.

Phase diagrams are widely used in the electronics industry to determine the presence of intermetallic compounds, the melting point of alloys, and the solubility of elements at different temperatures. Thermo-Calc is an ideal computational tool to obtain such understandings for various solders.

This presentation will first present how industrial soldering practices can be contextualized into current engineering classrooms, especially in materials science, to provide students with situated learning experiences. Then we will demonstrate how Thermo-Calc can be utilized as an effective self-learning or teaching tool to solve real-world engineering problems relevant to solders.

In addition to this Video there are two additional parts to the module:

• Written Tutorial on using Thermo-Calc to generate a phase diagram

• Homework Assignment on using Thermo-Calc to design a lead-free solder.

Congying Wang is a Postdoctoral Associate in the School of Materials Engineering. She holds a Ph. D. in Materials Engineering and a M.S. in Engineering Education at Purdue University in 2021. Her technical work focuses on stress relaxation mechanisms of Pb-free coatings in electronics and the sustainable end-of-life treatment of e-waste. In the engineering field, her research centers on effective pedagogies in student motivation and system thinking with a specialization in interdisciplinary education.

Network for Computational Nanotechnology

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

• Congying Wang (2022), "Integrating Microelectronics Contexts into Engineering Classrooms: Thermo-Calc Online Tool for the Design of Solder Materials," https://nanohub.org/resources/36098.

  BibTex | EndNote

1. alloys
2. hands on
3. heterogeneous integration & advanced packaging
4. materials science
5. melting point
6. phase diagrams
7. SCALE@Purdue
8. SCALE (Scalable Asymmetric Lifecycle Engagement)
9. solder
10. Thermo-Calc