Tin whiskers are single-crystal filaments that can grow from tin-plated copper or nickel components. This article discusses the effect of plating thickness, composition, and grain size on tin whisker formation and explains how to assess damage potential based on microanalysis, whisker length distribution models, and metal vapor arc risk factors. The authors also present and analyze several examples of failures caused by tin whisker formation in space systems.

length distribution models, metal vapor arc, risk assessment, space systems, tin plating microstructure, tin whiskers, tin-copper, tin-nickel
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Copyright © ASM International® 2012
2012
ASM International
Topics
Microstructure Tin plating Semiconductor wafer fabrication Risk analysis Metal whiskers
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