Nondestructive determination of subsurface grain morphology

Recent progress in experimental and numerical methods enables to scrutinize simulated polycrystal surface micromechanics at high spatial resolution. For the correct interpretation of similarities and deviations between experiment and simulation, the consideration of subsurface grain morphology is imperative because of its significant impact on the surface layer boundary condition. A novel method is presented that coarsely scans a relatively large area for subsurface crystallite orientation up to depths of ~0.2 mm by means of differential aperture X-ray microscopy. The resulting point set is categorized into grains according to proximity in physical and orientation space. Reconstruction of the subsurface grain structure starts with a Voronoi tessellation using the categorized set as seed points. Progressive smoothing of the resulting ragged grain boundary surfaces is achieved through mean curvature flow. As it turns out that the reconstruction quality of the bulk and on the surface are related, the latter can serve as guidance for optimum subsurface reconstruction

The Main Belt Comets and ice in the Solar System

We review the evidence for buried ice in the asteroid belt; specifically the questions around the so-called Main Belt Comets (MBCs). We summarise the evidence for water throughout the Solar System, and describe the various methods for detecting it, including remote sensing from ultraviolet to radio wavelengths. We review progress in the first decade of study of MBCs, including observations, modelling of ice survival, and discussion on their origins. We then look at which methods will likely be most effective for further progress, including the key challenge of direct detection of (escaping) water in these bodies

Effects of Once-Weekly Exenatide on Cardiovascular Outcomes in Type 2 Diabetes.

Abstract BACKGROUND: The cardiovascular effects of adding once-weekly treatment with exenatide to usual care in patients with type 2 diabetes are unknown. METHODS: We randomly assigned patients with type 2 diabetes, with or without previous cardiovascular disease, to receive subcutaneous injections of extended-release exenatide at a dose of 2 mg or matching placebo once weekly. The primary composite outcome was the first occurrence of death from cardiovascular causes, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or nonfatal stroke. The coprimary hypotheses were that exenatide, administered once weekly, would be noninferior to placebo with respect to safety and superior to placebo with respect to efficacy. RESULTS: In all, 14,752 patients (of whom 10,782 [73.1%] had previous cardiovascular disease) were followed for a median of 3.2 years (interquartile range, 2.2 to 4.4). A primary composite outcome event occurred in 839 of 7356 patients (11.4%; 3.7 events per 100 person-years) in the exenatide group and in 905 of 7396 patients (12.2%; 4.0 events per 100 person-years) in the placebo group (hazard ratio, 0.91; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.83 to 1.00), with the intention-to-treat analysis indicating that exenatide, administered once weekly, was noninferior to placebo with respect to safety (P<0.001 for noninferiority) but was not superior to placebo with respect to efficacy (P=0.06 for superiority). The rates of death from cardiovascular causes, fatal or nonfatal myocardial infarction, fatal or nonfatal stroke, hospitalization for heart failure, and hospitalization for acute coronary syndrome, and the incidence of acute pancreatitis, pancreatic cancer, medullary thyroid carcinoma, and serious adverse events did not differ significantly between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with type 2 diabetes with or without previous cardiovascular disease, the incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events did not differ significantly between patients who received exenatide and those who received placebo. (Funded by Amylin Pharmaceuticals; EXSCEL ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01144338 .)

In-Situ Characterization of Solidification and Microstructural Evolution During Interrupted Thermal Fatigue in SAC305 and SAC105 Solder Joints Using High Energy X-Ray Diffraction and Post-Mortem EBSD Analysis

Sn based solders used in the electronic packaging industry exhibit unpredictable failures due to their highly anisotropic properties, where thermal stresses, position within a package and microstructure evolution affect the property evolution and hence, lifetime of solder joints. In the present work, non-destructive high energy-X-ray diffraction measurements were performed in-situ on Sn–1Ag-0.5Cu (SAC105) and Sn–3Ag-0.5Cu (SAC305) solder joints in the corner position in chip array ball grid array packages in order to follow the grain evolution in the same joints starting with melting, solidification/cooling rate, and thermal cycling up to 750 cycles. Most of the SAC305 joints had ‘beachball’ (solidification twinned) microstructures, whereas most of the SAC105 joints were single crystals. Following solidification, the initial solder microstructure was affected in some joints by the thermal strain history during cooling, as new orientations emerged during cooling. During the first 100 thermal cycles, a major shift of dominant orientations was observed in all of the samples, and these orientations were stable thereafter, but the relative volume fractions of three twin-related orientations changed with increasing number of thermal cycles. All of the joints were cross-sectioned following the last increment of thermal cycling (750 thermal cycles), indicating that all of the joints had fully cracked. Electron backscatter diffraction mapping is compared to x-ray measurements, indicating that most of the orientations in the x-ray measurements were present in the cross section, but there were also significant differences, consistent with the fact that the 2-D section represents a small fraction of the entire joint. There was no obvious effect on microstructure or fracture associated with the initial cooling rate

Impact of Cooling Rate-Induced Recrystallization on High G Mechanical Shock and Thermal Cycling in Sn-Ag-Cu Solder Interconnects

The mechanical stability and thermo-mechanical fatigue performance of solder joints with low silver content Sn-1.0Ag-0.5Cu (wt.%) (SAC105) alloy based on different cooling rates are investigated in high G level shock environment and thermal cycling conditions. The cooling rate-controlled samples ranging from 1°C/min to 75°C/min cooling rate, not only show differences in microstructure, where a fine poly-granular microstructure develops in the case of fast cooling versus normal cooling, but also show various shock performances based on the microstructure changes. The fast cooling rate improves the high G shock performance by over 90% compared to the normal cooled SAC105 alloy air-cooling environment commonly used after assembly reflow. The microstructure effect on thermal cycling performance is also discussed, which is analyzed based on the Sn grain orientation, interconnect stability, and solder joint bulk microstructure

Slip, Crystal Orientation, and Damage Evolution During Thermal Cycling in High-Strain Wafer-Level Chip-Scale Packages

Wafer-level chip-scale package samples with pre-cross-sectioned edge rows were thermally cycled to study microstructure evolution and damage development. Electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) and high-energy x-ray diffraction were used to obtain Sn grain orientations and the average coefficient of thermal expansion normal to the board in every joint of the package for samples in the as-fabricated and thermally cycled conditions. The results indicated a near-random distribution of joint orientation. Optical, scanning electron microscopy, and EBSD methods were used to characterize microstructure changes in pre-cross-sectioned samples due to thermal cycling. Slip trace analysis and Orientation Imaging Microscopy™ (OIM) show that slip systems with high Schmid factors (estimated global shear stress based on the package neutral point) are responsible for the observed microstructure evolution during thermal cycling, which provides information about slip systems that are more easily activated. Two joints were analyzed in detail to evaluate slip activity at different stages of their thermal history. The first case showed that a solidification twin grain boundary misorientation deviated from the twin relationship due to slip activity during thermal cycling, which can influence damage development and the path of crack propagation. The second case showed a new grain orientation developing due to gradual lattice rotation about the Sn [110] axis by a continuous recrystallization mechanism. This rotation was correlated with the operation of slip system {110)⟨001]. Small tin whiskers emerged from the initially polished chip interface and grew with increasing thermal cycles until a crack developed in the solder that relieved the stress. As the local stresses are not known experimentally, this analysis provides observations that can be compared with a crystal plasticity model simulation