Journal of Thermal Spray Technology

, Volume 20, Issue 1–2, pp 299–306 | Cite as

Metallization of Thin Al2O3 Layers in Power Electronics Using Cold Gas Spraying

  • Kerstin-Raffaela Donner
  • Frank Gaertner
  • Thomas Klassen
Peer Reviewed
First Online:
Received:
Revised:

Abstract

A successful combination of insulating substrates with conducting metal coatings produced by cold spraying could open new industrial application areas like the fabrication of power electronic components. For minimizing the number of industrial process steps, insulating ceramic layers should ideally be processed by thermal spray techniques. Thus, this study investigates the impact behavior and coating formation of ductile metallic feedstock powders onto brittle ceramic coatings. With respect to high electrical conductivity of the metallic lines and good electrical insulation of the ceramic interlayer, copper was cold gas sprayed on previously thermally sprayed Al2O3 coatings. Successful cold coating formation requires different strategies for the activation of the ceramic layer to increase adhesion and to avoid brittle failure. These both can be achieved either by applying a bondcoat on the ceramic layer or using heated substrates during the cold spray process.

Keywords

alumina brittle substrate cold gas spraying copper electronic application surface activation 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Julian Engelen and the laboratory staff, in alphabetical order Thomas Breckwoldt, Herbert Hübner, Heinz-Dieter Müller, Norbert Németh, Camilla Schulze, Matthias Schulze, and Uwe Wagener, for their support in this study. The authors also wish to thank Thorsten Stoltenhoff, Praxair Surface Technologies GmbH, Germany, for supplying D-gun alumina coatings, and Filofteia-Laura Toma, Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology (Fh-IWS), Dresden, Germany, for supplying HVOF-sprayed alumina coatings. Financial support of the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) within the programs “InnoNet” (Grant No. 16IN0695) is gratefully acknowledged.

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Copyright information

© ASM International 2010

Authors and Affiliations

  • Kerstin-Raffaela Donner
    • 1
  • Frank Gaertner
    • 1
  • Thomas Klassen
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of Mechanical Engineering, Institute of Materials TechnologyHelmut Schmidt University, University of the Federal Armed Forces HamburgHamburgGermany

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