Survey of High-Temperature Reliability of Power Electronics Packaging Components

TLDR

High‑temperature SiC and GaN devices require packaging materials that can withstand temperatures above 200 °C, which are needed for applications such as oil‑and‑gas down‑hole logging, aircraft, automotive, and space exploration. This review aims to assess the reliability of key packaging components—substrates, die attaches, interconnections, and encapsulation materials—for high‑temperature operation. The authors evaluate the reliability of selected substrates, die attaches, interconnections, and encapsulation materials through a systematic review of their thermal and mechanical performance. Substrates with low CTE conductors or fracture‑resistant ceramics, compatible metallization schemes for die attaches and interconnections, and reduced CTE mismatch improve reliability, while encapsulation remains the limiting factor; the review identifies suitable components for high‑temperature wide‑bandgap semiconductors and serves as a resource for researchers.

Abstract

In order to take the full advantage of the high-temperature SiC and GaN operating devices, package materials able to withstand high-temperature storage and large thermal cycles have been investigated. The temperature under consideration here are higher than 200 °C. Such temperatures are required for several potential applications such as down-hole oil and gas industry for well logging, aircrafts, automotive, and space exploration. This review focuses on the reliability of a selection of potential components or materials used in the package assembly as the substrates, the die attaches, the interconnections, and the encapsulation materials. It reveals that, substrates with low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) conductors or with higher fracture resistant ceramics are potential candidates for high temperatures. Die attaches and interconnections reliable solutions are also available with the use of compatible metallization schemes. At this level, the reliability can also be improved by reducing the CTE mismatch between assembled materials. The encapsulation remains the most limiting packaging component since hard materials present thermomechanical reliability issues, while soft materials have low degradation temperatures. The review allows identifying reliable components and materials for high-temperature wide bandgap semiconductors and is expected to be very useful for researchers working for the development on high-temperature electronics.