2021 Volume 24 Issue 6 Pages 580-585
Previously, Sn-Pb plating was widely used in the electronics field, due to its good solderability. Recently however, lead-free plating has been developed because of concerns about the effects of lead on the environment. It is widely known that whisker defects sometimes occur in pure tin plating so we investigated a method for the suppression of whisker defects. We found that Periodic Reverse (PR) electrolysis suppresses whisker defects in tin plating and the orientation of the deposited Sn showed a decrease of preferred crystal orientation. In this paper, we discuss the suppression mechanism of PR electrolysis. In addition, we discuss the relationship between the decrease of preferred crystal orientation and whisker growth.
