World market leader develops paste system for power electronic applications, reliable alternative to direct bond copper substrates
Heraeus Precious Metals, world leader in industrial precious and specialty metals, announces the introduction of a Thick Print Copper System to their extensive portfolio of products and applications. The thick printing copper conductor paste system has been developed for power electronic applications where excellent reliability, thermal conductivity and robust thermal cycling performance are required.
Heraeus' Thick Print Copper System can be used to create copper circuits from 20 -350 microns thick on both alumina (Al2O3) and aluminum nitride (AlN) substrates. The system has been optimized for greater than 50 micron fired film thickness with one process cycle. The system is 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, all applied by printing, dried in air and fired in nitrogen atmosphere, include:
-- C7403/C7404 - Optimized for AIN substrates.
-- C7720 - Optimized for application on conventional alumina substrates.
-- C7440 - Designed for fine line printing (4 mil lines and spaces) on conventional alumina substrates.
-- C7463 - Copper plug hole paste designed for alumina and aluminum nitride substrates.
As an attractive alternative to direct bonded copper (DBC) products, Heraeus thick print copper is electroless nickel (Ni), immersion gold (Au) (ENIG) plateable for both soldering and wire-bonding assembly processes. The system has proven superior thermal cycling performance over DBC by passing 1,000 cycles without failure, a significant improvement over typical DBC thermal cycle performance. Heraeus thick print copper uses 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 makes this a cost effective approach to power electronics.
The Heraeus Thick Print Copper System is REACH and RoHS compliant meaning it is free of lead, cadmium, phthalate and nickel. Applications include power electronics, as well as high power LED substrates, thermoelectric devices, and concentrated photovoltaic cells.
