Graphene for advanced packaging applications in power devices
Elena MESSINA (CNR-IPCF)
Graphene recently emerged as a new two-dimensional material platform with unique optical, thermal and electronic properties. Single- or few-atom-thick graphene flakes can potentially be utilized to form structured bulk composites that further enrich these properties and enable a broad range of new applications. Here we describe optical manipulation of self-aligned colloidal graphene flakes and graphene for advanced packaging applications in power devices. We report on the synthesis of a high performance epoxy composite added with graphene platelets that, starting from a silver-filled resin used for chip bonding, features improved thermal (up to +470%) and electrical conductivity (up to +1100%).
The low filler content allows one to keep almost unchanged the glass transition temperature, the viscosity and the curing parameters. Die shear measurements show that the nanostructured resins fulfil the MIL-STD-883J requirements when bonding gold-metalized SMD components, even after repeated thermal cycling. Using the nanostructured resins to bond GaN-based high electron mobility transistors in power amplifiers circuits we observe a decrease of the GaN chip peak and average temperatures of, respectively, ~ 30 °C and ~ 10 °C with respect to the pristine resin. The obtained results are important for the fabrication of advanced packaging materials in power electronic and microwave applications and fit the technological roadmap for graphene and hybrid systems.
This work has been funded by the PON Project PON01_01322 PANREX « Packaging basato su nanomateriali per Ricevitori ed Exciter compatti per Applicazioni Radar con Antenna a scansione elettronica del fascio »
