I-Corps: Commercialization of Lead-free Nanosolder Paste for Micro/Nano-Electronics Assembly and Packaging

焊接在电子制造中被广泛使用。传统上，锡/铅(锡/铅)焊料应用最广泛。近年来，由于铅的毒性和健康问题，锡/铅焊料正在被逐步淘汰，无铅焊料得到了更广泛的应用。然而，大多数无铅焊料的熔化温度高于锡/铅焊料，因此给印刷电路板和电子器件带来了热应力和可靠性问题。纳米焊料有可能取代或改进现有的微米级无铅焊料粉末，并满足电子行业日益增长的需求。此外，随着电子行业对进一步小型化的关注和对‘纳米电子学’的推动，纳米存储材料有望在将纳米元件组装成纳米电子学和纳米系统方面发挥关键作用。纳米焊料的成功应用将开启微纳电子制造的新纪元。较小尺寸的焊料凸起还将促进工业焊接和电子组装方法的革命。无铅配方将减少有毒材料的使用，并为未来的电子制造提供一种可持续的方法。这项I-Corps计划的目的是研究无铅纳米焊膏的商业化可行性，这种无铅纳米焊膏作为一种新的焊接材料在微纳电子组装和封装应用中具有巨大的潜力。具体目标包括制定技术转让计划，确定无铅纳米焊料的产业目标和市场价值，完成无铅纳米焊料和纳米焊接技术潜在应用的详细商业化计划。近年来，无铅纳米焊料配方焊膏已经发展成为典型的微焊膏的直接替代品。这一创新能够满足目前被电子制造行业广泛采用的焊膏印刷技术。力学性能研究表明，与目前商用配方焊膏相比，纳米焊料复合焊料的强度有所提高。对于下一代纳米电子学来说，通过应用纳米焊料可以有效地将纳米线、纳米管和石墨烯等多个纳米元件连接在一起，形成功能器件。

Soldering is widely used in electronics manufacturing. Traditionally, tin/lead (Sn/Pb) solders are most widely used. Recently, due to the toxicity and health concerns of lead, Sn/Pb solders are being phased out and Pb-free solders are more widely used. However, most Pb-free solders have a higher melting temperature than Sn/Pb solders and thus impose thermal stress and reliability issues for the printed circuit boards (PCBs) and electronic devices. Nanosolders have the potential to replace or improve the existing micron-sized Pb-free solder powders and to meet the increasing demand in the electronics sector. Furthermore, with the electronics industry's focus on further miniaturization and push to 'nanoelectronics', nanosolders are expected to play a key role in assembling nano-components into nanoelectronics and nanosystems. The successful adoption of nanosolder materials will initiate a new epoch in micro/nano-electronics manufacturing. The smaller sized solder bumps will also promote the revolution of industrial soldering and electronics assembling methods. The lead-free formulation will reduce the usage of toxic material and provide a sustainable approach for future electronics manufacturing. The objective of this I-Corps proposal is to investigate the commercialization feasibility of lead-free nanosolder paste, which has great potential as a new soldering material for micro/nano-electronics assembly and packaging applications. Specific aims include the development of a technology transfer plan, determination of industrial target and market value of lead-free nanosolder materials, and completion of a detailed commercialization plan for the potential application of lead-free nanosolder materials and nano-soldering technique. Recently, the lead-free nanosolder formulated paste has been developed as the direct replacement of the typical microsolder paste. This innovation is able to satisfy the current solder paste printing technology which has been widely adopted by the electronics manufacturing industry. The mechanical property studies showed that the nanosolder composed solders resulted in enhanced strengthwhen compared to the currently commercial formulated solder paste. For the next generation nanoelectronics, multiple nanocomponents, such as nanowire, nanotube and graphene, can be effectively jointed by applying nanoscale solder materials to form a functional device.