Evaluation of Low-Pressure-Sintered Multi-Layer Substrates for Medium-Voltage SiC Power Modules: Preprint

Jacob Gersh, Christina DiMarino, Douglas DeVoto, Paul Paret, Joshua Major, Samuel Gage

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaper

Abstract

Direct-bonded aluminum (DBA) multi-layer substrates have been fabricated using low-pressure silver sintering. These multi-layer substrates can be used to reduce the peak electric field strength inside power modules. This benefit is particularly important for medium-voltage silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFETs due to their higher operating voltages. The voiding content and defect density of the bond used to create the multi-layer substrate stackup is critical to the thermal performance and reliability of the power module. This work two low-pressure-assisted sintering techniques; one using nano-silver preform and the other using nano-silver paste to bond 23 mm by 49 mm DBA substrates. Scanning acoustic microscopy (C-SAM) is used to evaluate the bond quality after sintering. To evaluate the reliability of the sintered multi-layer substrates, passive thermal cycling from –40 °C to 200 °C was performed. Cross-sections were cut at pre-determined intervals and imaged with Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). After 1,000 thermal cycles, minor cracking was observed, but no failures have occurred.
Original languageAmerican English
Number of pages9
StatePublished - 2021
Event2021 IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC) -
Duration: 9 Jun 202112 Jun 2021

Conference

Conference2021 IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC)
Period9/06/2112/06/21

NREL Publication Number

  • NREL/CP-5400-79563

Keywords

  • power module
  • preform
  • reliability
  • silicon carbide
  • silver sintering
  • stacked substrates

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