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Fracture mechanism of microporous Ag-sintered joint in a GaN power device with Ti/Ag and Ni/Ti/Ag metallization layer at different thermo-mechanical stresses

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Abstract

Ag sinter joining technology is emerging as a die attach material for next-generation power modules in high-temperature applications. Thermal shock test has revealed that the fracture characteristics and reliability of sintered Ag joint were influenced by thermo-mechanical stress. This was study conducted to understand the microstructure, vertical crack formation, and fracture behavior of sintered Ag joints which were designed with different metallization layers on a direct bonded aluminum (DBA) substrate, at different thermo-mechanical stresses during thermal shock tests. Two kinds of metallization layers were designed as Ti/Ag and Ni/Ti/Ag layers. A finite element model (FEM) simulation confirmed that the Ni layer prohibited Al hillock-like deformation and generates different thermo-mechanical stresses during the thermal shock test from − 50 °C to 250 °C. Depending on the degradation of the interfaces for both of the Ag-sintered joints, the sintered Ag grain necking thickness and microstructure characteristics including the Ag grain structures, which have a dominant influence on the bonding strength in terms of long-term reliability, are considerably different from the results by an electron back scatter diffraction (EBSD) analysis. This paper proposes a novel metallization technology that can induce joint fracture with complete recrystallization of sintered Ag joints by effectively suppressing interfacial degradation. The mechanism of this technology was systematically analyzed through experiments and FEM simulations.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the JST Advanced Carbon Technology Research and Development Program (ALCA) project “Development of a high frequency GaN power module package technology” (Grant No. JPMJAL1610). This paper also is based on results obtained from a project (JPNP14004) commissioned by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Flexible 3D System Integration Laboratory, Osaka University, Ibaraki-shi, Osaka, 567-0047, Japan

    Dongjin Kim, Chuantong Chen, Shijo Nagao & Katsuaki Suganuma

  2. Thermal Management Team, Production Engineering Research Institute, LG Electronics, Inc, Gangseo-gu, Seoul, 07796, Republic of Korea

    Dongjin Kim

  3. Division of Materials and Manufacturing Science Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, Suita-shi, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan

    Sangmin Lee

  4. Department of Advanced Materials Engineering, Korea Polytechnic University, Siheung, 15073, Republic of Korea

    Seung-Joon Lee

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  1. Dongjin Kim
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  4. Seung-Joon Lee
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  5. Shijo Nagao
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Contributions

D.K completed the sinter Ag joining, thermal shock experiments, and studies reported in this work with technical guidance from C.C, S.N and K.S. S.L and S.L provided the analysis of EBSD. The manuscript was written by D.K. with contributions from all other authors.

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Correspondence to Chuantong Chen.

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Kim, D., Lee, S., Chen, C. et al. Fracture mechanism of microporous Ag-sintered joint in a GaN power device with Ti/Ag and Ni/Ti/Ag metallization layer at different thermo-mechanical stresses. J Mater Sci 56, 9852–9870 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-021-05924-z

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