This work investigates the effects of Sb on the tensile property of the Sn-3.5Ag-0.7Cu lead-free solder alloy and joints. Results show that the Sb-containing solder alloys and joints have higher ultimate tensile strength (UTS) than Sb-free solder alloy and solder joints due to solid solution hardening and particle hardening. UTS of solder alloys have a logarithmic increase relation with strain rate and decreases with the increase of testing temperature. The tensile strength of Sn-15Ag-0.7Cu solder joint reaches the highest value when 1.0 %Nn.% Sb is added and drops with the ageing time due to intermetallic compounds (IMC) growth at solder/IMC interface. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.