Solder Paste

By Jane Koh, IPC Technical Project Manager & Brian Sloth Bentzen, SMT in FOCUS

SOLDER PASTE
A solder paste is a mixture of solder alloy particles encapsulated in flux and used in a reflow soldering
process.

IPC/EIA J-STD-005 ”Requirements for Soldering Pastes” defines the characteristics of solder paste by a
combination of alloy designation (as per IPC/EIA J-STD-006), flux classification (as for IPC/EIA J-STD-004),
solder powder size, nominal metal mass percentage, and viscosity.

IPC/EIA J-STD-004, J-STD-005 and J-STD-006 may be obtained from the online bookstore at IPC web-site
http://www.ipc.org

SOLDER PASTE MATERIALS

The typically solder metal alloy consists of lead (Pd), tin (Sn) and sometimes silver (Ag). The alloy is formed
to small particles with a diameter of 20 to 75 microns depending on the use. For fine pitch printing, meaning
lead pitch on 0.5 mm and below, the particles are typically 20 - 45 microns and for conventional printing 45 -
75 microns. Solder powders are classified in J-STD-005 according to the shape of the particles and size
distribution of the particles.

The most common used alloy in Scandinavia is Sn62Pb36Ag2 that melts at 179 degree Celsius. This alloy
has a small temperature area where it takes a plastic form before it becomes fluid. Another alloy is the
eutectic Sn63Pb37 that goes directly from solid to fluid form at 183 degree Celsius. The typical metal content
of a solder paste is 88 - 91% by weight and approximately 50% by volume.

J-STD-006 “Requirements for Electronic Grade Solder Alloys and Fluxed and Non-Fluxed Solid Solders for
Electronic Soldering Applications” catalogues the commonly used alloys in the electronic industry. Alloy
composition, purity requirements, solidus and liquidus temperatures are listed in this standard.

The formula of the flux is rear information. But must fluxes are formulated of four base additives; Rosin or
synthetic resin (40-50%), activators (20-35%), rheological additives and finally solvents. At room temperature
the rosin is solid and inactive but when heated to around 125 degree Celsius it acts as a mild fluid acid that
cleans the solder spots. The rosin also cover and protect the solder spots against oxidation during the
soldering process. To increase or decrease the cleaning efficiency, activators are added. These activators
can be bromides, chlorides, amino acids and dicarboxylic acids.

According to J-STD-004 “Requirements for Soldering Fluxes”, fluxes are classified by their chemical com-
position, activity level and halide content. Each flux type is identified by a 4-character designator. The first
two characters are determined by the chemical composition of the non-volatile portion. I.e. RO for rosin, RE
for resin, OR for organic and IN for inorganic based fluxes. The third character indicates the activity level: low
(L), moderate (M) and high (H). The last character - 0 or 1 - indicates the absence or presence of halides,
respectively. The combination of the last two characters describes the corrosive or conductive properties of
the flux or flux residue.

The rheological additives gives the solder pasta its thixotropic behaviour. When printing the solder paste on
to a PCB it must roll on top of the stencil and easily be printed through the apertures. But when printed onto
the PCB the viscosity must be high to avoid slumping after removing the stencil. The last additive is solvent
consisting of alcohol or glycol. These ingredients have a very little cleaning and protecting effect. They are
used to give the solder paste the required tack time and stencil lifetime. Usually a combination of solvents
with high and low boiling point are used.

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TESTING SOLDER PASTE
Before using a new solder paste in the production facility, it is very important to test it properly. It is simply to
risky not to. A lot of problems can occur when introducing a non tested solder paste: E.g. Solder balling,
bridging and bad printing behaviour.

When choosing the solder paste(s) for the tests it is important that it fits the products manufactured. When
the type of flux is specified per IPC/EIA J-STD-004, a series of tests listed in this standard may be used to
verify its classification. For example, REL0 is a RE based flux. It is required to pass the copper mirror test,
corrosion test and surface insulation resistance test on cleaned and not cleaned specimens to determine its
low activity level. It is also required to pass both qualitative and quantitative halide tests to determine its
absence of halide.

Quality conformance of the solder paste purchased could be verified by using the test methods and criteria
specified in J-STD-005. Several tests are listed for the determination of maximum and average solder
particle size, solder particle shape, and solder powder size distribution. A metal content test is required to
ensure that the mass percentage of metal is as specified on the purchase order. Viscosity of the solder paste
needs to be measured to ensure good performance with the printing procedure and equipment configuration
in use.

Performance of the solder paste may also be tested using tests and requirements in J-STD-005. Slump test
with stencils of different thickness shall be run to make sure that bridging would not happen at required pitch
size. Solder balling could be avoided if solder ball tests were done before a new solder paste is used or
before any significant parameter change are introduced to the soldering process. J-STD-005 includes diffe-
rent solder balling criteria for solder paste with different size of solder powder. Tackiness and wettability of
the solder paste are also important properties to be tested in order to ensure performance.

So, before starting a solder paste test, it is a very good idea to get hold of the J-STD-004 and J-STD-005
standards. These two IPC standards contain a lot of useful information along with the IPC-TM-650 “Test
Methods Manual” * that describes all the tests in details. To perform the tests correctly, it is also necessary to
have some special testing equipment. A small solder paste testing kit can be purchased from e.g. Litton
Kester or you can make it your-self after the specifications given in the IPC standards.
The IPC standards contain descriptions of a lot of different tests. To perform some of the tests expensive
and special equipment is needed. Since not all have this equipment or the ability to purchase such equip-
ment, it is necessary to trust the data given by the solder paste suppliers. However other test can easily be
done and the must common used tests are mentioned below.

In some of the tests, reflow should be done using a hot plate or solder bath. However if nitrogen is used in
the reflow process, I think the tests where soldering is used must be done in your normal reflow process. But
be aware that the used reflow profile should be designed to the solder paste tested.

* Individual test methods in IPC-TM-650 could be downloaded from IPC web-site at http://www.ipc.org/html/
testmethods.htm

Solder powder particle size distribution

There are several ways to perform this test. J-STD-005 gives the options of using screen/sieve, optical
image analyser or measuring microscope. But the method where the minimum of equipment is needed is
the microscope measuring method. The thinned solder paste is squeezed between 2 microscope glass
slides and the powder size is measured in a microscope preferable with minimum 100X magnification. A
viewing area containing around 50 particles is randomly chosen for measurement. The result of this test is
used to determine powder size type designator according to the J-STD-005. For example, Type 1 solder
powder shall have minimum 80% of the particles between 75 – 150 microns, maximum 10% smaller than 20
microns, maximum 1% larger than 150 microns, and 0% larger than 160 microns.

When inspecting the sample estimate the common shape of the particles as spherical or non-spherical. It is
important that the majority of particles are spherical to give good printing performance. More details are to be
found in the IPC-TM-650 test methods manual under test number 2.2.14.1 “Solder Powder Particle Size
Distribution – Measuring Microscope Method”.

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Solder paste - Slump test
The slump test is performed to determine X and Y direction slump of the solder paste when left at room
temperature and when exposed to heating. Solder paste is printed onto four alumina or glass epoxy sub-
strate using two stencils manufactured from IPC artworks IPC-A-20 and IPC-A-21**. Each artwork contains
2 pairs of aperture rows. Each pair has identical aperture size and spacing, 1 row is laid out along the X axis
and the other along the Y axis. The apertures on each row are identical in dimensions, but the spacing
between apertures varies systematically in order to give a scaled reading to the test results. Dimension and
spacing of the apertures are listed in the following tables:

Dimensions and Spacing of IPC-A-20

Row Layout Aperture Size Number of Maximum Spacing Minimum Spacing

Aperture
1 X-axis 0.20 x 2.03 mm 16 0.30 mm 0.075 mm
2 Y-axis 0.20 x 2.03 mm 16 0.30 mm 0.075 mm
3 X-axis 0.33 x 2.03 mm 18 0.45 mm 0.06 mm
4 Y-axis 0.33 x 2.03 mm 18 0.45 mm 0.06 mm

Dimensions and Spacing of IPC-A-21

Row Layout Aperture Size Number of Maximum Spacing Minimum Spacing

Aperture
1 X-axis 0.33 x 2.03 mm 18 0.45 mm 0.06 mm
2 Y-axis 0.33 x 2.03 mm 18 0.45 mm 0.06 mm
3 X-axis 0.63 x 2.03 mm 14 0.79 mm 0.33 mm
4 Y-axis 0.63 x 2.03 mm 14 0.79 mm 0.33 mm

Two specimens are printed with each stencil. The printed specimens are then stored for 10 - 20 minutes at
room temperature. Then one specimen printed with each stencil is examined for slump. The other two
samples are heated to 150 degree Celsius for 10 - 15 minutes, cooled and then examined for slump.

The slump is determined visually by the bridging between the solder paste deposit. E.g. If the last bridge is
between two deposits printed with a separation distance of 0.3 mm the slump is 0.3 mm. Often the slump is
largest for prints printed across the width of the apertures (print direction along the row of fine pitch apertu-
res). J-STD-005 contains the basic pass-fail criteria for the slump test. But additional requirements may be
specified by the users according to the pitch size of the application.

The photograph to the right shows an example of

slump after 10 minutes at 150 degree Celsius. The
result shown is very good.

More details are to be found in the IPC-TM-650 test

methods manual under test number 2.4.35 “Solder
Paste – Slump Test”.

** Artworks may be purchase from IPC at

http://www.ipc.org. A copy of IPC/EIA J-STD-005 is
included with the purchase of either artwork.

Solder paste - Solder ball test

This test is performed to determine the solder pastes ability to melt into a sphere. The solder paste is printed
onto 2 alumina substrates using a stencil with 3 round apertures of 6.5 mm in diameter. The thickness of the
stencil should be 0.2 mm for solder particles type 1 - 4 and 0.1 mm for solder particles size 5 - 6. The 1st
specimen is stored 10 - 20 minutes at room temperature and then melted. The other specimen is stored 4
hours +/- 15 minutes at room temperature and then melted.

The reflow process can be done either by lowering the specimens onto the surface of a solder bath or by
using a hot plate. Be aware that it is important to keep the substrates in a horizontal position when removing
from the heating source. The specimens can also be reflowed in the reflow furnace.

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Results

Preferable No satellite particles around the sphere. See Photo No. 1.

Acceptable Few satellite particles equally spread and near the flux edge. See Photo No. 2.
Unacceptable Few or excessive numbers of particles in clusters or excessive numbers of
particles unequally spread near the flux edge. See Photo No. 3 & 4.

Photo No.1 Photo No. 2 Photo No. 3 Photo No. 4

More details are to be found in the IPC-TM-650 test methods manual under test number 2.4.43 “Solder
Paste – Solder Ball Test”.

Solder paste - Wetting test

This test is performed to determine the solder pastes ability to wet an oxygen-free high conductivity copper
(OFHC) surface. The test can be done on glass epoxy substrate with copper surface. The substrate is
cleaned with a liquid copper cleaner, water washed,
cleaned with isopropyl alcohol, dried and the boiled for
10 minutes in de-ionised water and finally air dried.
Solder paste is then printed onto the substrate using a
0.2 mm thick stencil with 3 round apertures of 6.5 mm
in diameter. The specimen is then reflowed on a hot
plate or in the reflow furnace and the flux is removed
using a solvent.
The result of the test is examined with 10X
magnification. The solder must be uniformly wetting
the copper surface, and there must be no de-wetting
or non-wetting to be seen. Neither must there be any
solder spatter around the printed dots. If the wetting is
very good, as shown in the photograph to the right,
the solder will float out and form a larger diameter of
melted solder.

More details are to be found in the IPC-TM-650 test

methods manual under test number 2.4.45 “Solder
Paste – Wetting Test”.

Solder paste printing idle test

This test is performed to determine if a long idle time between prints will clog the apertures in the stencil and
thereby result in poor print quality. The stencil used must have the fine pitch aperture size expected used in
the normal printing process. E.g. 0.4 mm or 0.5 mm pitch. It will be a good idea that these fine pitch apertu-
res are placed so the print will be both across and along the apertures.

It is also important to use the production screen printer for this test and not a laboratory printer. The solder is
printed onto five bare glass epoxy substrates in a continuos flow. The screen printer is then left for 15 minu-
tes, before five more prints are performed. After an idle period of 30 minutes five more prints are performed.
And finally after another idle period of 60 minutes the last five glass epoxy substrates are printed. During the
entire test no cleaning of the stencil must be done.

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The result of the test is examined in a microscope. For the solder paste to pass this test there must only be a
very little difference to see between the last print of a batch and the first print of the next batch.

Other laboratory tests

A lot of other tests can be done. Solder paste metal contents by weight, Solder paste viscosity, Solder paste
tack test, Acid value of liquid solder flux, Copper mirror test, Silver chromate test, Solid content in flux, Halide
content test, Fluoride tests, Wetting balance test, Flux viscosity, Spread test, Fungus resistance test, Surface
insulation resistance test, Corrosion test. These are all described in the IPC-TM-650 test methods manual
found in the two IPC standards J-STD-004 and J-STD-005.

One of the above mentioned tests, namely the SIR-test (Surface Insulation Resistance test) I find to be an
important test to perform. This test can indicate if any problems, such as electro-migration, will occur in later
in the final products.

Production test
When all the laboratory tests have been carried out and the results are satisfactory, some serious production
test must be performed. Find one or two PCBs representing the span of components used in the production
and decide how many PCBs it will be appropriate to produce during the test.

Some of the issues this test must uncover is the solder pastes print-ability, print before stencil cleaning is
necessary, numbers of bridges at fine pitch ICs, solder balling and finally the visual appearance of the solder
joints. If X-ray is accessible also the presence of voids inside the solder joint are an interesting factor.

A final factor of importance is the solder paste tackiness. The solder paste must be able to hold the mounted
components in place until the solder paste is reflowed. Especial heavy components with very little terminals
have shown to cause problems. Therefore I have found it to be important to test if the solder paste can hold
these components in real production.

If choosing to use the tested solder paste in full-scale production, it is important to investigate and adjust the
parameters in the different processes before doing so. For screen printing; E.g. print speed, stencil
separation speed etc. For reflow soldering; E.g. soldering profile, oxygen level etc.

More Information
The IPC Solder Paste Task Group is currently working on a handbook associated with J-STD-005. This
handbook, IPC-HDBK-005 “Guide to Solder Paste Assessment” contains in-depth discussions on important
tests for solder paste. It is estimated to be published next year. More information about this handbook can be
obtained from directly form IPC Technical Project Manager, Jane Koh.

Information about IPC standards is contributed by:

Jane Koh
Technical Project Manager
IPC – Association Connecting Electronics Industries
2215 Sanders road, Northbrook, IL 60062, United States
Voice : (847) 790-5349
Fax : (847) 509-9798
E-mail: janekoh@ipc.org
Web-site: http://www.ipc.org

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