The introduction of lead-free technology into electronics has intensified concern over tin whiskers phenomenon. Tin whiskers are crystals growing from the alloy surface as the result of compressive stress relaxation. This paper presents the dependence of tin whisker growth on copper and oxygen surface content. The observations and measurements were done using scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The results show that whisker growth is strongly related to increased copper and oxygen surface content in whisker neighborhood.
In this work, single-phase La_{0.7}Sr_{0.3}Zr_{0.5}Co^{2+}_{0.2}Co^{3+}_{0.3}O_3 and La_{0.8}Sr_{0.2}Ti_{0.5}Co^{2+}_{0.3}Co^{3+}_{0.2}O_3 ceramics with the stable perovskite structure were utilized for fabrication of multilayer negative temperature coefficient thermistors. The number and thicknesses of ceramic layers were adjusted to attain suitable resistances in a desired temperature range. Scanning electron microscopy studies revealed a dense, fine-grained microstructure of ceramic layers, lack of delaminations and cracks at ceramic layer-conductive layer boundaries and a good cooperation with conductive layers. The temperature coefficients of resistance of the fabricated multilayer thermistors were changing from - 13 to - 1%/K in the temperature range from - 55 to 400C.