Pascaline Boulanger, in a lab coat, hair net, and face mask, works diligently in a laboratory environment. - CSA Catapult

CSA Catapult’s state-of-the-art equipment, practical know-how and specialist expertise help businesses solve their problems when bringing compound semiconductor products to market.

The AMX P55 X-Sinter Press has recently been added to the advanced packaging lab at the Innovation Centre in Newport.

Pascaline Boulanger, Senior Packaging Engineer at CSA Catapult, is an expert in advanced packaging solutions for power electronics, photonics, and RF and microwave communications. In her role, Pascaline develops advanced packaging prototype assemblies that de-risk new products to get them to market faster.

Here Pascaline explains how the sinter press builds upon CSA Catapult’s capabilities in packaging for high power density applications and can help the power electronics industry overcome challenges in thermal management and reliability when developing high temperature applications.

What is it?

High-pressure sintering is transforming power electronics packaging by addressing challenges associated with high-temperature applications, where high power densities generate significant heat.

High-pressure sintering produces components that can withstand harsh operating conditions and prolongs their lifespan, which is crucial for reliable performance. The sinter press facilitates the manufacturing of multi-chip power electronics module assemblies using advanced high-pressure sintering technology.

What is high-pressure sintering?

Traditional joining technologies may not address the unique requirements of compound semiconductors.

High-pressure sintering is essential for optimising performance and reliability. It uses sinter material containing silver or copper particles, which are subjected to elevated temperatures and pressures, while remaining below their melting points.

Diffusion is central to this method. It facilitates the rearrangement of particles with reduced porosity, which results in stronger connections and enhanced material integrity.

High-pressure sintering means we can produce stronger, denser materials joints at lower temperatures than we could using traditional methods. This capability makes it an effective joining technique for die attachment applications.

Why is high-pressure sintering a good technique for compound semiconductors?

When combined with compound semiconductors like silicon carbide (SiC), high-pressure sintering improves mechanical and electrical properties. This synergy provides an advantage in high-performance electronics, such as power modules, where reliability and efficiency are paramount.

Another advantage of high-pressure sintering is that it operates without a liquid phase because the melting points of the materials are much higher than the sintering temperature.

This characteristic ensures the initial joint remains intact, even when additional joints are created through subsequent heat cycles as part of the manufacturing.

As a result, the process flow for assemblies in power modules, for example, is streamlined, which make robust structures well-suited to demanding applications.

Silver sintering and, more recently, copper sintering technologies offer a robust lead-free alternative to solder pastes, due to their excellent thermo-conductivity and high electrical conductivity properties.

Sintering will enable power devices to work for much longer as they enable the devices to withstand more heat.

A large, industrial X-Sinter P3S 3D printer in a clean, well-lit room with an e-enabled control panel and a blue cable. - CSA Catapult

What does the sinter press do?

The press generates uniform high pressure and temperature simultaneously, to form a reliable bond between the power die and the substrate and is compatible for silver and copper sinter materials.

Migrating to a die level process to a multi-chip high pressure sintering capability with the sinter press is huge.

What's the benefit of multi-chip over die level process?

The previous sintering tool in the lab created a bottleneck. It was limited to single chip assemblies.

The AMX P55 sinter press has enhanced our capabilities by enabling multi-chip sintering. The equipment is part of CSA Catapult’s assembly line for developing bespoke processes that can meet diverse customer needs.

Now we can process more chips in much less time and help customers bring their products to market quicker.

Which industries could use the sinter press?

Our new multi-chip sintering capability is specifically designed for the power electronics market, enabling the assembly of high-performance multi-chip power modules.

How is the sinter press unique?

The sinter press is suitable for silver and copper sintering, as assemblies can be processed in a controlled atmosphere. It enables oxidation free processing, which is particularly suited for copper sintering technology.

Copper sintering is becoming more popular, because it is a cheaper material than silver. It provides the ability to sinter directly onto bare copper, which again reduces cost.

As sintering capabilities on the press reach unprecedented levels, traditional silver and copper joining techniques may no longer be the preferred options for die attach applications alone.

Instead, it may be applied to other power module interfaces, such as substrate attachments, which will provide more solutions to thermal management and will enhance future power modules.

To find out more about how our cutting-edge tools and techniques can help you improve your devices, get in touch today.

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Equipment spotlight: AMX X-Sinter P55 Press