Joanna WOJEWODA-BUDKA

My scientific activity focuses on topics that are significant to society and the economic environment. One of them comprises the effort to eliminate harmful lead from the environment, associated with the widespread use of tin-lead solders in electronic interconnections. I have combined my experience as both an expert and the Deputy Head of the Scanning Electron Microscopy Laboratory at the Institute of Metallurgy and Materials Science Polish Academy of Sciences, where I repeatedly conducted studies on interconnections in electronic packages, with the competencies gained through participation in joint research projects with FIDELTRONIK – Poland's largest electronics manufacturer. This fruitful partnership allowed the Fideltronik team to acquire essential information for the global implementation of lead-free technology – safe for human health and environmentally friendly. I have studied defects in the microstructure of solder joints obteained with the application of the first-generation lead-free alloys (SAC alloys — SnAgCu). Conducted research and analyses led to a significant reduction of lead introduced into circulation in 2021 by FIDELTRONIK, allowing for a reduction in production costs of electronic packages, greater reliability of the resulting connections, and consequently a smaller amount of waste that pollutes the environment.

Since 2016 my research focuses on the electroless nickel plating, inspired by numerous problems resulting from its widespread use in the electronics industry (Electroless Nickel Immersion Gold - ENIG coatings), where the quality of soldered interconnections is largely determined by the nickel bath, and specifically by the phosphorus content co-deposited with nickel in the coating. By modifying the process and introducing rhenium into the coating, it was possible to achieve enhanced thermal stability of the coatings dedicated to be used in electronics, however, the most significant result was related to the next phase of research – the analysis of changes in the plating / solder interface after the reaction with tin, the main component of the SAC-type lead-free solders. For specific plating process conditions, the quality of the interconnections made with tin was significantly improved, and importantly, the phenomenon of large-scale and uncontrolled spalling of intermetallic phases from the interface and their migration towards the solder was eliminated, which often causes defects in interconnections.

Moreover, the National Research Council and the Polish Academy of Sciences granted funding for a two-year Polish-Italian project under the Bilateral Agreement CNR/PAN Biennium Programme 2023-2024: “Modern Coatings for Electronics - Solutions for Lead-Free Technology Problems,” which was conducted in collaboration with Dr. Fabrizio Valenza from the Institute of Condensed Matter Chemistry and Technologies for Energy (ICMATE/CNR) in Genoa.

My scientific interests are also associated with the explosive welding of metals and their alloys in collaboration with a leading Polish producer of coated materials – EXPLOMET High-Energy Technology Company. This collaboration involves both technological and scientific analysis of the problem of producing a multilayer composite material and has been realized through three doctoral dissertations supervised by me: Dagmara Małgorzata Fronczek (defended in 2017), and two more with distinction in 2021 – Izabella Kwiecień and Marcin Szmul. Marcin Szmul's doctoral dissertation titled “New Technologies for Welding Steel Coated with Titanium Applied in the Construction of Process Equipment” was conducted as an implementation doctorate in close cooperation with EXPLOMET company but also with FAMET, a company that has been operating since 1950, which comprises a group of five production plants and currently employs about 1 200 people. It specializes in the design, production, supply, and assembly services of process equipment and devices for key branches of industry in Poland and abroad (including the production of parts for wind turbines, electric machines, construction, and transferring machines).

In the mentioned doctoral dissertations, many of the described phenomena relate to diffusion, a topic that I have also pursued within the framework of the Opus project funded by the National Science Centre of Poland dedicated to periodic layered structures created as a result of solid-state reactions in Mg/SiO2, Zn/Co2Si, and Zn/Ni3Si couples, conducted from 2015 to 2019. Knowledge of the mechanisms of such ordering may allow for the control of microstructure, as the morphology of repeated bands affects the stability of interfaces, and consequently the properties of such structures.

One of the latest sciebtific interest is realized within the AntiPathCoat project: “Next-Generation Copper-Based Coatings with Enhanced Resistance to Pathogens” (M-ERA.NET2/2020/AntiPathCoat/4/2021), in collaboration with the CHIRMED Medical Tools Factory as well as the Equipment and Technology with the Hydroaerodynamic Centre at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, being funded by the National Centre for Research and Development of Poland. The project addresses the challenge posed by the pandemic, considering the fact that the lifespan of pathogens – bacteria, as well as the SARS-CoV-2 virus, will be studied on a series of newly designed copper-based coatings. These are innovative composite coatings obtained by adding nanoparticles during the copper deposition process, which will serve as an even more effective weapon in the fight against the spread of pathogenic organisms.