ABSTRACT
According to the second edition of the American Heritage Dictionary, the chemistry definition of a whisker is “an extremely fine filamentary crystal that can be grown from supersaturated solutions of certain minerals and metals, and that possesses extraordinary shear strength and unusual electrical and surface properties.” Although tin (Sn) whisker discussed in this chapter possesses some of the unique physical and materials characteristics, its growth phenomenon is entirely different from what was described above. In this chapter, we will specifically discuss spontaneous whisker growth from electro-plated Sn coatings. This growth process is a solid-state phenomenon.
