Tamura develop a new solder paste

Citation

(2012), "Tamura develop a new solder paste", Soldering & Surface Mount Technology, Vol. 24 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ssmt.2012.21924daa.010

Tamura develop a new solder paste

Article Type: New products From: Soldering & Surface Mount Technology, Volume 24, Issue 4

Tamura Corp. has developed a solder paste for the electronics industry that contains less than one-third the normal amount of silver but retains the same performance as regular solder paste, including a similar temperature range for melting.

Because the new solder paste uses far less silver, the manufacturing costs are less sensitive to swings in the precious metal’s price, meaning Tamura can supply the product at a set price over longer periods of time to customers.

Tamura has already begun shipping samples and plans to enter into volume production later this month, aiming for its use in attaching electronic components – such as capacitors, microchips and resistors – to the circuit boards of computers, cellular phones and other products.

Most of the solder pastes now used for this purpose are free of lead and instead use silver, tin and copper as their main components. But while these two latter metals cost only several hundred yen per kilogram, silver costs around 100,000 yen per kilogram, so fluctuations in the silver market can significantly impact solder paste prices.

Whereas typical solder paste has a 3 percent silver content, Tamura’s new product contains at most 1 percent.

Reducing the silver this way normally boosts the melt temperature of the solder, requiring higher temperatures for soldering that can damage semiconductors and other components. But Tamura was able to solve this problem by developing an improved additive that contains no halogen compounds and yields a solder paste that melts in the range of 211-224°C, which is comparable to the 217-220°C range of regular solder paste.