Because of the volatility of the metals market, the price of traditional SAC solders has been somewhat unpredictable. The chart below plots the price of SAC305 metal from June 2009 to June 2012.
Traditionally, solder is selected based on whether it meets the temperature and reliability requirements. As a result of recent price volatility, solder selection has now also been impacted by metals cost. Today, companies are willing to sacrifice reliability for lower material cost. As I noted in a previous post, low-Ag alloys are cheaper, but compromise thermal cycling performance. Indium Corporation’s SACM® alloy provides a lower cost material without sacrificing thermal cycling performance. If this sounds like an alloy that would be of interest to you, visit www.indium.com/SACM® to download the technical paper, or contact a member of our technical team to review your application needs.
Tim
*This post is part of the Introducing SACM® Series