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The Wettability and Diffusion of Al Droplets on the C- and Si-Terminated 4H-SiC Surfaces: A Classic Molecular Dynamics Study

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Abstract

Unique physical characteristics make AlSiC an important packaging material for power electronics devices such as insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs). In the present study, we performed classical molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the effect of the 4H-SiC surface termination characteristics on the wettability of molten Al droplets. This result has considerable significance for improving the wettability between a matrix and reinforcing particles, which is required to prepare AlSiC composites by the casting method. Density profile analysis was adopted to calculate the contact angles θ of Al droplets on a surface of SiC, including Si- and C-terminated surfaces. The calculated angles θ were 99.8° and 81.7°, respectively. The stratification of the droplet density in the C-terminated system depended strongly on the terminated characteristics of the SiC surface and helped increase the wettability of droplets in this system. In addition, droplet diffusion on the Si-terminated surface was obviously slower than that on the C-terminated surface. The wetting characteristic of molten Al droplets depended strongly on the interaction energy, indicating that the surface terminated characteristics had a strong effect on the wettability of the SiC surface. Compared to the results for the Si-terminated surface, the molten Al droplet had a considerably smaller contact angle and the C-terminated surface showed a higher wettability.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Hubei Provincial Education Department Project (B2020141), Xiangyang Science and Technology Bureau Project in 2021 (High-Tech Field) “Packaging and Thermal Management of High Power IGBT Devices for Rail Transit”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Engineering, Hubei University of Arts and Science, Xiangyang, China

    Yi Lv, Feng Liao & Chengcheng Peng

  2. Longzhong Laboratory, Hubei, China

    Yi Lv

  3. The Institute of Technological Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

    Sheng Liu

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  1. Yi Lv
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  2. Feng Liao
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Correspondence to Yi Lv.

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Lv, Y., Liao, F., Peng, C. et al. The Wettability and Diffusion of Al Droplets on the C- and Si-Terminated 4H-SiC Surfaces: A Classic Molecular Dynamics Study. J. Electron. Mater. 51, 6921–6929 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-022-09921-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-022-09921-z

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