SBIR-STTR Award

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project will investigate the feasibility of employing novel silver pastes for joining power semiconductor devices to achieve 5 times higher temperature cycling capability, 3 times better total module resistance, and device junction temperature over 175 degrees Celsius. A sintering technology for joining semiconductor chips, now being implemented in manufacturing lines of some major European companies, requires a 120-ton press to lower the sintering temperature of silver powders. This significantly complicates the manufacturing process and places critical demands on substrate flatness and thickness of the chips. This project uses materials that can be sintered below 270 degrees Celsius under ambient pressure and have 5 times better thermal and electrical properties than widely used solder alloys, thus will have great commercial potential to improve the electronic assembly process and products. The broader impacts/commercial potential is to the electronics manufacturers in the United States by providing a low-cost manufacturing process for low-temperature sintering technology for joining devices

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase II project aims to accelerate the commercialization of an enabling nanomaterial for joining semiconductor chips. The unique features of this innovative material would reduce the manufacturing cost for making lead-free electronics that are required to work in harsh environments and to possess significantly improved performance and reliability over the state-of-the-art technologies. This project focuses on obtaining and sharing extensive scientific knowledge that will lower the risk and barrier for electronic manufacturers worldwide to rapidly implement this nanomaterial in mass production. The broader impacts of a successful project will be to electronics manufacturers in the United States. The U.S. has fallen behind their European and Asian competitors in the move to lead-free products. This enabling nanomaterial will reduce manufacturing complexity and cost, and will help U.S. manufacturers in capturing a significant share of nearly $500 million-dollar market for chip-attach materials