Methods for fast, reliable growth of Sn whiskers

We report several methods to reliably grow dense fields of high-aspect ratio tin whiskers for research a period of days to weeks. The techniques offer marked improvements over previous means to grow which have struggled against the highly variable incubation period of tin whiskers and slow growth rate. of the film stress is the key to fast-growing whiskers, owing to the fact that whisker incubation and fundamentally a stress-relief phenomenon. The ability to grow high-density fields of whiskers in a reasonable period of time (days, weeks) has accelerated progress in whisker growth and development of whisker mitigation strategies. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights