Microelectronics Reliability 55 (2015) 2523
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Microelectronics Reliability
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/mr
Guest Editorial
Power electronics packaging
Katsuaki Suganuma a, Jenn-Ming Song b, Yi-Shao Lai c
a
Institute of Science and Industrial Research, Osaka University, Japan
b
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan
c
Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Inc., Taiwan
Power electronics plays one of the key roles in the generation-storage-
distribution conversion cycle of the electric energy that contributes to the
development of the sustainable world. New integration technology for
power devices has been rapidly developed to fulfill the demands for
high power density, high operation temperature and improved reliability
at the same time of system miniaturizations. Present-day technologies
and materials are unable to deal with the emerging problems. There are
high expectations for wide band gap (WBG) power semiconductors,
such as SiC and GaN devices, because they can be operated in extreme
conditions where silicon power devices cannot work anymore — in envi-
ronments over 200 °C, for example. Bringing out the full potential of WBG
power devices requires completely new approaches covering all relevant
technologies extending from structural design, electrical design, and
packaging. With respect to packaging technology, innovations in mate-
rials, manufacturing techniques and reliability evaluation are inevitable.
The paper included is divided into four groups, interconnection ma-
terials, damaging mechanism of solder interconnects, interface design
for electric/thermal contact, and Packaging design and performance.
Nano-Ag sinter joining, which is one of the most emerging materials
for die-attach especially for high power applications, was reported by
the first paper on wide band gap devices by X. Li and the second paper
on power laser by Y. Mei. X. Li studied high temperature stability of
nano-Ag sintered joints of Cu and revealed the excellent stability up to
250 °C to 960 h in vacuum while serious strength degradation occurred
after aging at 250 °C only for 72 h in air. Oxidation of Cu has a key to
maintain the interface integrity. Y. Mei studied on a pulse reliability in-
vestigation of high power single emitter laser modules with nano-Ag
paste. Y. Mei compared the life time of a laser diode die-attached with
nano-Ag sinter joining with In and Au–Sn solderings by experiment
aided with FEM. He provided a semi-empirical model based on Arrheni-
us relationship that is established to provide relative reliability assess-
ments for laser modules. R. Mahmudi reported on creep behavior of
Zn–4Al–3Mg–xSn alloys tested by impression technique and found
that increasing Sn content of alloys increased creep rate, which can be
attributed to the soft Sn-rich phase and lack of hard Mg–Zn particles.
Y. H. Chen reported on a new Al–Cu intermetallic metallization for sol-
dering and identified the reaction phases.
Damaging mechanism of solder interconnects were reported by two
papers, Numbers 5 and 6. T. Kadoguchi reported on electromigration at
the interface between Sn–Cu and Ni–P plating at elevated temperature
and pointed out that electromigration accelerates the diffusion of Ni in
E-mail addresses: suganuma@sanken.osaka-u.ac.jp (K. Suganuma), samsong@
nchu.edu.tw (J.-M. Song), Yishao_Lai@aseglobal.com (Y.-S. Lai).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.microrel.2015.11.014
0026-2714/© 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
the Ni–P plating at the cathode, which enhances the growth of a Ni de-
pleted zone while the Ni diffusion at the anode side is depressed. P.
Rajaguru proposed a proposed time dependent damage indicator model
for a die-attach structure soldered with Sn–3.5Ag under irregular temper-
ature change.
In the part of interface design for electric/thermal contact, three pa-
pers are involved from number 7 to 9. M. Fujino reported on the bump-
shaped vertically aligned multi-walled carbon nanotubes bonded to a
Au substrate by a surface activated bonding. They found that Ar fast
atom bombardment for 1200 s improves the interconnect resistance
by 1/1000 of the original resistance. J. W. Yang proposed a unique meth-
od to increase orhmic contact performance by depositing Al2O3 nano-
particles on AlGaN/GaN before Au metallization which is attributed to
the suppression of excess reaction between the metallization and the
substrate during annealing process. Y. Xuan reported on graphene
mixed with epoxy as thermal interface material. They found that the
smallest thermal contact resistance is achieved with 6 wt% graphene
primarily influenced by the hardness of the composite.
In the 4th part of the current special issue, packaging design and per-
formance, four papers are included from numbers 10 to 13. G. Q. Lu stud-
ied on the design procedure and experimental verification of a thermal
characterization system for IGBT modules. They found nano-Ag sinter
die-attach gives 12 % lower Zth (transient thermal impedance) than
SAC solder. C.-C. Lee proposed an embedded IGBT module for the reduc-
tion of inductance at the same time of attractive miniaturization. M.-Y.
Tsai reported on solution for cracking problem of a direct-plated-copper
aluminum nitride substrate with excellent thermal conductivity. They
employed warpage measurement combined with FEM analysis. Finally,
J. Li studied on the failure of several types of Si IGBT configurations on a
DBC substrate under overcurrent. The configurations are the conventional
Al wire bonding, flexible PCB interconnect and DBC supported flexible
PCB.
Thus, the current special issue is intended to stretch our steps into
the new world of interconnect technology especially for the extreme
environmental conditions for power devices including Si and wide
band gap semiconductors. It is our pleasure that many papers have
been submitted to this issue. Among them, 13 excellent papers are in-
volved in the current issue. As briefly summarized above, they are rang-
ing from the individual interconnection materials such as solders and
sinter joining, wire bonding, interconnect performance, and reliability
issues such as thermal exposure/cycling, and electromigration. The ed-
itors are hoping that all those new findings in papers will provide some
new insights and ideas to the engineers and scientists working in this
field.