Publications

Abstract not provided.

This report details characterization and development activities in electronic packaging for high temperature applications. This project was conducted through a Department of Energy sponsored Cooperative Research and Development Agreement between Sandia National Laboratories and General Motors. Even though the target application of this collaborative effort is an automotive electronic throttle control system which would be located in the engine compartment, results of this work are directly applicable to Sandia`s national security mission. The component count associated with the throttle control dictates the use of high density packaging not offered by conventional surface mount. An enabling packaging technology was selected and thermal models defined which characterized the thermal and mechanical response of the throttle control module. These models were used to optimize thick film multichip module design, characterize the thermal signatures of the electronic components inside the module, and to determine the temperature field and resulting thermal stresses under conditions that may be encountered during the operational life of the throttle control module. Because the need to use unpackaged devices limits the level of testing that can be performed either at the wafer level or as individual dice, an approach to assure a high level of reliability of the unpackaged components was formulated. Component assembly and interconnect technologies were also evaluated and characterized for high temperature applications. Electrical, mechanical and chemical characterizations of enabling die and component attach technologies were performed. Additionally, studies were conducted to assess the performance and reliability of gold and aluminum wire bonding to thick film conductor inks. Kinetic models were developed and validated to estimate wire bond reliability.

During the qualification of Low Temperature Cofire Ceramic (LTCC) as an enabling WR packaging technology for manufacturing the MC4352 (MET), issues pertaining to the mechanical performance of the DuPont 951 ``Green Tape{trademark}`` tape were investigated. Understanding the fundamental mechanical performance of the DuPont 951 substrate material, including the effect of surface metallization in STS environments, is required to determine MC4352 survivability. Both fast fracture and slow crack growth behavior were characterized for the MET configuration. A minimum stress threshold of 6.5 Kpsi for slow crack growth was established for substrates containing surface conductors, resistors, and resistor glaze. Finite element analysis was used to optimize the MET substrate thickness and to design the supporting structures to limit mechanical loading of the populated substrate below the slow crack growth threshold. Additionally, test coupons that failed during environmental testing are discussed. The root cause of electrical failures was attributed to solder leaching of the thick film metallization. Changes to solder pad configuration were incorporated to reduce the solder-metallization intermetallic from reaching the substrate interface. Finally, four-point bend tests revealed that the YAG laser approach for sizing LTCC substrates induced flaws, which substantially reduced the overall strength of the test samples as compared to samples sized using a diamond saw.