Since the 'cracked oxide theory' was proposed by Tu in 1994 [1], there has only been a limited number of studies that have sought to investigate the effect of the Sn oxide on whisker growth. The current study has used electrochemical oxidation to produce oxide films, which has enabled the effect of the surface oxide thickness on whisker growth to be established. The effect of oxide thickness on whisker growth has been investigated for tin electrodeposits on both Cu and brass substrates. The influence of applied oxidation potential on the thickness of the Sn oxide film has been investigated using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) for potassium bicarbonate-carbonate and borate buffer electrolyte solutions. Whisker growth from electrochemically oxidised Sn-Cu deposits on Cu and Sn deposits on brass has been investigated and compared with samples left to develop a native air-formed oxide. XPS studies show that the thickness of the electrochemically formed Sn oxide film is dependent on the applied oxidation potential and the total charge passed.Subsequent whisker growth studies demonstrate that electrochemically oxidised Sn-Cu deposits on Cu and Sn deposits on brass are significantly less susceptible to whisker growth than those having a native oxide film. For Sn deposits on brass, the electrochemically formed Sn oxide greatly reduces Zn oxide formation at the surface of the tin deposit, which results in whisker mitigation. For Sn-Cu deposits on Cu, the reduction in whisker growth must simply derive from the increased thickness of the Sn oxide, i.e. the Sn oxide film has an important role in stemming the development of whiskers.

There are very few studies that have investigated directly the effect of an oxide film on tin whisker growth, since the 'cracked oxide theory' was proposed by Tu in 19941 . The current study has investigated the effect of an electrochemically produced oxide on tin whisker growth, for both Sn-Cu electrodeposits on Cu and pure Sn electrodeposits on brass. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) has been used to investigate the effect of the applied electrochemical oxidation potential on the oxide film thickness. Focused ion beam (FIB) has been used to prepare cross sections from electrodeposited samples to investigate the influence of the electrochemically formed oxide film on deposit microstructure during longterm room temperature storage. The XPS studies show that the thickness of electrochemically formed oxide film is directly influenced by the applied potential and the total charge passed. Whisker growth studies show that the electrochemical oxidation treatment mitigates whisker growth for both Sn-Cu electrodeposits on Cu and pure Sn electrodeposits on brass. For Sn electrodeposits on brass, the electrochemically formed oxide greatly reduces both the formation of zinc oxide at the surface and the formation of intermetallic compounds, which results in the mitigation of tin whisker growth. For Sn-Cu electrodeposits on Cu, the electrochemically formed oxide has no apparent effect on intermetallic compound formation and acts simply as a physical barrier to hinder tin whisker growth.

There are very few studies that have investigated directly the effect of an oxide film on tin whisker growth, since the 'cracked oxide theory' was proposed by Tu in 1994. The current study has investigated the effect of both a molybdate conversion coating and a tungstate conversion coating on tin whisker growth from Sn-Cu electrodeposits on Cu, and compared it with that from an electrochemically-formed oxide produced from a potassium bicarbonate-potassium carbonate electrolyte. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) has been used to investigate the effect of both immersion time and applied potential on the thickness and composition of the oxide film. The XPS studies show that the oxide film formed using either of the conversion coating baths is significantly thicker than that produced from the potassium bicarbonate-potassium carbonate bath.Initial observations suggest that both the tungstate-based conversion coatings and the molybdate-based conversion coatings significantly reduce whisker growth by over 80 % for all conversion coating systems compared with a native air-formed oxide and provide improved mitigation compared with the electrochemically formed oxides previously investigated.

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