STTR PHASE I: Nanoscale Silver Pastes for Low-Temperature Joining of Power Semiconductor Devices

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project will investigate the feasibility of employing novel silver pastes for joining power semiconductor devices to achieve 5 times higher temperature cycling capability, 3 times better total module resistance, and device junction temperature over 175 degrees Celsius. A sintering technology for joining semiconductor chips, now being implemented in manufacturing lines of some major European companies, requires a 120-ton press to lower the sintering temperature of silver powders. This significantly complicates the manufacturing process and places critical demands on substrate flatness and thickness of the chips. This project uses materials that can be sintered below 270 degrees Celsius under ambient pressure and have 5 times better thermal and electrical properties than widely used solder alloys, thus will have great commercial potential to improve the electronic assembly process and products. The broader impacts/commercial potential is to the electronics manufacturers in the United States by providing a low-cost manufacturing process for low-temperature sintering technology for joining devices.