Heraeus Precious Metals, West Conshohocken, Pa., introduces a thick print copper paste system for power electronic applications where excellent reliability, thermal conductivity, and robust thermal cycling performance are required. The system can create copper circuits from 20 to 350 microns thick on both alumina and aluminum nitride substrates.
The system has been optimized for greater than 50 micron fired film thickness with one process cycle. It has been formulated for superior thermo-mechanical performance for demanding power applications with excellent adhesion and stress matching of the copper to the underlying substrate. The products are all applied by printing, dried in air, and fired in nitrogen atmosphere.
As an attractive alternative to direct bonded copper (DBC) products, Heraeus thick print copper is electroless nickel/immersion gold platable for both soldering and wire-bonding assembly processes. The system has proven superior thermal cycling performance over DBC by passing 1000 cycles without failure, a significant improvement over typical DBC thermal cycle performance.
Heraeus thick print copper is applied by an additive process that can create multiple copper trace thicknesses on one single substrate, thereby allowing both standard circuit control components and power components to be assembled onto a single design. It also has the ability to handle multiple circuits on one panel and singulate afterwards, making this a cost effective approach to power electronics.
http://heraeus-precious-metals.com
