Abstract
The sintering process of micro-silver joints in SiC devices that operate in high temperatures has attracted considerable attention in recent years, owing to its advantages in low processing temperatures. The first part of this work carries out a thorough investigation into the effects of the processing parameters in pressure sintering on the shear strength and shear fracture surfaces of micro-silver joints. Optimization of the sintering parameters is then performed using orthogonal tests, validated by experiments, followed by an inspection of the microstructure of the sintered micro-silver joint. The second part of this work presents temperature and stress distribution analyses in the sintering process under the optimum parameters using the finite element method (FEM). The residual shear stress at the silver layer/SiC chip interface created during sintering is also examined. Results show that the shear strength of the silver joints increased significantly with the sintering temperature and time. The shear strength also increased with the sintering pressure initially, but a further increase in the sintering pressure (> 8 MPa) led to a decrease in the shear strength. Our findings demonstrate that the shear strength of the micro-silver joint may be correlated with the residual shear stress created during the sintering process. FEM showed that a further increase in sintering pressure resulted in an increase in residual shear stress, which reduced the shear strength. The optimum sintering parameters proposed for micro-silver joints based on these results are 290°C, 5 min, and 8 MPa, in which strong bonding strength of 44.31 MPa was achieved.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
R.T. Yadlapalli, A. Kotapati, R. Kandipati, and C.S. Koritala, A review on energy efficient technologies for electric vehicle applications. J. Energy Storage. 50, 104212 (2022).
L. Han, L. Liang, Y. Kang, and Y. Qiu, A review of SiC IGBT: models, fabrications, characteristics, and applications. IEEE Trans. Power Electron. 36, 2080 (2021).
A. Syed-Khaja and J. Franke, Silver Sintering, CIRP Encyclopedia of Production Engineering. ed. S. Chatti, and T. Tolio (Berlin: Springer, 2018), p. 1.
K.S. Siow, Are sintered silver joints ready for use as interconnect material in microelectronic packaging? J. Electron. Mater. 43, 947 (2014).
G. Liu, Y. Wu, K. Li, Y. Wang and C. Li, Development of high power SiC devices for rail traction power systems. J. Cryst. Growth 507, 442 (2019).
E. van Brunt, L. Cheng, M.J. O’Loughlin, J. Richmond, V. Pala, J.W. Palmour, C.W. Tipton, and C. Scozzie, 27 kV, 20 A 4H-SiC n-IGBTs. Mater. Sci. Forum 821–823, 847 (2015).
S. Piriienko, T. Röser, M. Neuburger, and A. Balakhontsev, Current source gate drivers for 3-phase VSI operated in small-scale wind turbine systems. Int. J. Electr. 141, 108160 (2022).
H. Luo, N. Baker, F. Iannuzzo, and F. Blaabjerg, Die degradation effect on aging rate in accelerated cycling tests of SiC power MOSFET modules. Microelectron. Reliab. 76–77, 415 (2017).
L. Yang, Y. Yang, Y. Zhang, F. Xu, J. Qiao, W. Lu, and B. Yu, Microstructure evolution and mechanical properties of the In–Sn–20Cu composite particles TLP bonding solder joints. Appl. Phys. A 126, 343 (2020).
Y. Bao, A. Wu, H. Shao, Y. Zhao, and G. Zou, Effect of powders on microstructures and mechanical properties for Sn–Ag transient liquid phase bonding in air. J. Mater. Sci. Mater. Electron. 29, 10246 (2018).
G. Khatibi, A. Betzwar Kotas, and M. Lederer, Effect of aging on mechanical properties of high temperature Pb-rich solder joints. Microelectron. Reliab. 85, 1 (2018).
Z.X. Zhu, C.C. Li, L.L. Liao, C.K. Liu, and C.R. Kao, Au–Sn bonding material for the assembly of power integrated circuit module. J. Alloys Compd. 671, 340 (2016).
Y. Gao, S. Takata, C. Chen, S. Nagao, K. Suganuma, A.S. Bahman, and F. Iannuzzo, Reliability analysis of sintered Cu joints for SiC power devices under thermal shock condition. Microelectron. Reliab. 100–101, 113456 (2019).
W. Zhang, J. Chen, Z. Deng, Z. Liu, Q. Huang, W. Guo, and J. Huang, The pressureless sintering of micron silver paste for electrical connections. J. Alloys Compd. 795, 163 (2019).
S.T. Chua and K.S. Siow, Microstructural studies and bonding strength of pressureless sintered nano-silver joints on silver, direct bond copper (DBC) and copper substrates aged at 300°C. J. Alloys Compd. 687, 486 (2016).
H. Yang and W. Zhu, Study on the main influencing factors of shear strength of nano-silver joints. J. Mater. Res. Technol. 9, 4133 (2020).
L. Yin, F. Yang, X. Bao, W. Xue, Z. Du, X. Wang, J. Cheng, H. Ji, J. Sui, X. Liu, Y. Wang, F. Cao, J. Mao, M. Li, Z. Ren, and Q. Zhang, Low-temperature sintering of Ag nanoparticles for high-performance thermoelectric module design. Nat. Energy 8, 665 (2023).
C.-H. Tsai, W.-C. Huang, L.M. Chew, W. Schmitt, J. Li, H. Nishikawa, and C.R. Kao, Low-pressure micro-silver sintering with the addition of indium for high-temperature power chips attachment. J. Mater. Res. Technol. 15, 4541 (2021).
M. Ahamed, M.S. AlSalhi, and M.K.J. Siddiqui, Silver nanoparticle applications and human health. Clin. Chim. Acta 411, 1841 (2010).
H. Zhang, W. Li, Y. Gao, H. Zhang, J. Jiu, and K. Suganuma, Enhancing low-temperature and pressureless sintering of micron silver paste based on an ether-type solvent. J. Electron. Mater. 46, 5201 (2017).
H. Zhang, W. Wang, H. Bai, G. Zou, L. Liu, P. Peng, and W. Guo, Microstructural and mechanical evolution of silver sintering die attach for SiC power devices during high temperature applications. J. Alloys Compd. 774, 487 (2019).
W.S. Hong, M.S. Kim, C. Oh, Y. Joo, Y. Kim, and K.-K. Hong, Pressureless silver sintering of silicon-carbide power modules for electric vehicles. JOM J. Miner. Metals Mater. Soc. 72, 889 (2020).
C. Chen, Z. Zhang, D. Kim, T. Sasamura, Y. Oda, M.-C. Hsieh, A. Iwaki, A. Suetake, and K. Suganuma, Interface reaction and evolution of micron-sized Ag particles paste joining on electroless Ni-/Pd-/Au-finished DBA and DBC substrates during extreme thermal shock test. J. Alloys Compd. 862, 158596 (2021).
G. Yang, F. Wu, L. Zhou, X. Luan, X. Zou, H. Liu, Y. Wan, X. Zhang, and B. Wang, Influence of IMC morphology on fatigue stress, strain and life of solder layer between SiC chip and DBC substrate in IGBT under thermal cycling. 22nd International Conference on Electronic Packaging Technology (ICEPT), 1 (2021).
W. Feng and X. Li, Stress and warping analysis of large area substrate connection in IGBT module package. Chin. Q. Mech. 41, 59 (2020).
C. Qian, T. Gu, P. Wang, W. Cai, X. Fan, G. Zhang, and J. Fan, Tensile characterization and constitutive modeling of sintered nano-silver particles over a range of strain rates and temperatures. Microelectron. Reliab. 132, 114536 (2022).
G. Chen, Z.-S. Zhang, Y.-H. Mei, X. Li, D.-J. Yu, L. Wang, and X. Chen, Applying viscoplastic constitutive models to predict ratcheting behavior of sintered nanosilver lap-shear joint. Mech. Mater. 72, 61 (2014).
L. Wang and Z. Liu, Conductive silver paste containing micro nickel powder, C.N.I.P. Administration, Editor. 2015, Anhui Fengyang Decheng Technology Co., Ltd.
W. Schmitt, L.M. Chew, and D. Schnee, Silver sinter paste for SiC bonding with improved mechanical properties. 21st European Microelectronics and Packaging Conference (EMPC) & Exhibition, 1 (2017).
R. Khazaka, L. Mendizabal, and D. Henry, Review on joint shear strength of nano-silver pasteand its long-term high temperature reliability. J. Electron. Mater. 43, 2459 (2014).
T. Wang, X. Chen, G.-Q. Lu, and G.-Y. Lei, Low-temperature sintering with nano-silver paste in die-attached interconnection. J. Electron. Mater. 36, 1333 (2007).
Y. Liu, H. Zhang, L. Wang, X. Fan, G. Zhang, and F. Sun, Effect of sintering pressure on the porosity and the shear strength of the pressure-assisted silver sintering bonding. IEEE Trans. Device Mater. Reliab. 18, 240 (2018).
X. Liu, S. Li, J. Fan, J. Jiang, Y. Liu, H. Ye, and G. Zhang, Microstructural evolution, fracture behavior and bonding mechanisms study of copper sintering on bare DBC substrate for SiC power electronics packaging. J. Mater. Res. Technol. 19, 1407 (2022).
L.M. Chew, W. Schmitt, C. Schwarzer, and J. Nachreiner, Micro-Silver Sinter Paste Developed for Pressure Sintering on Bare Cu Surfaces under Air or Inert Atmosphere. IEEE 68th Electronic Components and Technology Conference (ECTC), 323 (2018).
H. Zhang, C. Chen, J. Jiu, S. Nagao, and K. Suganuma, High-temperature reliability of low-temperature and pressureless micron Ag sintered joints for die attachment in high-power device. J. Mater. Sci.: Mater. Electron. 29, 8854 (2018).
J.L. González-Velázquez, Mechanical Behavior and Fracture of Engineering Materials (Cham: Springer, 2020).
W.A. Siswanto, M. Arun, I.V. Krasnopevtseva, A. Surendar, and A. Maseleno, A competition between stress triaxiality and joule heating on microstructure evolution and degradation of SnAgCu solder joints. J. Manuf. Process. 54, 221 (2020).
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC No. 62074062) for the financial support. Special thanks to the HPC Platform of Huazhong University of Science and Technology for the computation of the FEM model.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Yang, G., Lee, E.L., Yang, K. et al. Pressure Sintering of Micro-Silver Joints in SiC Power Devices: Optimization of Processing Parameters and FEM Analysis. J. Electron. Mater. 53, 1313–1332 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-023-10822-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-023-10822-y