Low Temperature Consolidation of Micro/Nanosilver Die-Attach Preforms

摘要

Organically passivated silver nanopowder paste-based sintering is considered a promising solution for die-attach in high temperature power and sensing electronic devices. However, oxygen requirements during burnout and inherently high shrinkage rates limit their use to small die sizes. This work reports an alternative fabrication method that resolves decomposition and shrinkage issues of the die-attach by utilizing a prestressed optimized tape cast mixture of micro- and nanosilver particles with a polypropylene carbonate binder. The effects of prestressing, microanosilver bimodal distribution, and polymer content on resulting microstructure and shear strength were investigated. Prior to application as a die-attach, uniaxial compression of the tape was found to significantly decrease shrinkage and improve green strength. This pre-stressing strategy allows for a decoupling of the resulting die-attach materials properties from the pressure applied during assembly. Bimodal mixtures consisting of 1-3 mu m spherical powders with nanosilver resulted in shear strengths comparable to those of pure nanosilver. Shear strength decreased as bimodal particle size increased above 5 mu m. A polymer content of similar to 10 wt.% polypropylene carbonate combined with prestressing was identified as optimal for maximizing die-attach shear strength while still maintaining pliability and formability. Tape casts that were prestressed to 212 MPa by uniaxially compression and formulated with 10 wt.% of polypropylene carbonate resulted in a die-attach material with a shear strength of 54 MPa when sintered. These materials were used to demonstrate void-free 25-mm(2) die-attach assemblies, suggesting that tape cast microanosilver materials may be a promising die-attach method for high temperature and large-area electronics devices.