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

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 stack-up is critical to the thermal performance and reliability of the power module. This work evaluated 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. C-mode Scanning Acoustic Microscopy (C-SAM) was 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.