Thermal Management in Electronics Packaging Using Metal Substrates

There exists a growing need for electronic packaging that is capable of good thermal management. Better thermal dissipation can be achieved with the use of insulated metal boards at a fraction of the cost. Despite this, the high thermal conductivity of the metal substrate has not been taken full advantage of in copper-clad metal substrates because of thermal resistance of the adhesion layer which is used to bond the circuitry. Additionally multi-layer circuitry was not possible until now on metal substrates. The development of an insulated metal substrate with directly deposited conductive traces using electrically conductive inks based on transient liquid phase sintering technology is proposed. High temperature operation, low cost, light weight and the ability to print directly onto metallic substrates are properties that give these conductive inks unique advantages. Thermally conductive metal substrates could take advantage of this technology to achieve high thermal dissipation. Thermally resistive adhesive interfaces would be eliminated, resulting in higher thermal dissipation and higher product reliability. It is anticipated that high temperature circuits fabricated will exhibit superior resistance to thermal and environmental degradation. Anticipates the development of a low cost, high thermal dissipation insulated metal substrate technology. This technology will utilize simple, additive processing of stable conductive ink materials to build reliable multi-layer circuitry.