With the increased deployment of power modules in demanding conditions, sintering materials, especially composite sintering materials, have raised growing interest due to their cost-effectiveness and suitability. Therefore, this study explores the viability of Cu–Ag composite sintering material, focusing on solvent influence through microstructure and mechanical behavior analysis. Micron-sized particle-based Cu–Ag composite pastes were designed and compared using eight solvents (four epoxy-free and four epoxy-added) based on fluidity and thermal stability. The sintered joints' performance, assessed through shear strength analysis, showed comparable values to pure silver sintering for both epoxy-free and epoxy-added samples. Optimized samples from each solvent system underwent reliability analysis, demonstrating that Cu–Ag joints with epoxy resin exhibited significantly higher shear strength after high-temperature storage and thermal cycling tests. Micromorphology and elemental composition analysis revealed differences in aging mechanisms, primarily attributed to variations in porosity due to oxide formation and pore filling by epoxy resin under different solvent systems. Further nanoindentation characterization of micromechanical properties, including hardness, modulus, and creep properties, during high-temperature aging, established constitutive models for insights into reliability evolution. In conclusion, the optimized epoxy-added Cu–Ag sintered joints proposed in this study demonstrated exceptional reliability and acceptable micromechanical properties, presenting a promising option for high-temperature power packaging.

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With the development of electronic technology towards high power, miniaturization, and system integration, power electronic packaging is facing increasing challenges, especially for die attachment. This research aims to explore silver-coated copper (Cu@Ag) paste with sufficient mechanical properties and high-temperature reliability, as an alternative solution for silver sintering with lower cost. Firstly, micro-Cu@Ag sintering pastes were investigated under four kinds of polyol-based solvent systems and two types of particle morphologies, which included sphere-type (SCu@Ag) and flake-type (FCu@Ag). Sintering performance and microstructural evolution were compared and analyzed. Notably, sintered joints employing the terpineol–polyethylene glycol solvent system and flake-type morphology displayed a denser microstructure in comparison to SCu@Ag joints. Its bonding strength reached 36.15 MPa, which was approximately 20% higher than SCu@Ag joints. Subsequently, the influence of key sintering process parameters on Cu@Ag joints was analyzed, including sintering temperature, pressure and time. Additionally, high-temperature aging and thermal cycling tests were conducted on the optimized Cu@Ag joints to assess their reliability. Finally, the micromechanical properties of Cu@Ag joints before and after high-temperature aging were further evaluated by nanoindentation including creep properties. The elastoplastic constitutive models of Cu@Ag sintered materials with different particle morphologies were constructed, providing valuable insights for reliability evaluation. The results indicated that FCu@Ag joints exhibited satisfactory creep resistance and high-temperature reliability. In conclusion, the FCu@Ag micro-paste based on the terpineol–polyethylene glycol solvent system proposed in this study demonstrated sufficient bonding strength, high reliability, and adequate mechanical properties as an attractive solution for high-temperature power electronics packaging.

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Nanosilver pastes have been regarded as the most promising die-attach materials for high-temperature and high-power applications due to their advantages such as excellent thermal conductivity, electrical conductivity, high temperature resistance, and good shear strength. However, the common hot pressing sintering process for nanosilver pastes has the limitations of long sintering time and complicated sintering processes. Thus, laser sintering has been proposed as a rapid sintering method that attracts increasing interest due to its advantages of high energy density, fast temperature rise, easy densification, etc. In this review, the recent advances in laser sintering processes were summarized, including pressure laser sintering, backside sintering, and hybrid bimodal laser sintering. The effects of various laser sintering process parameters on joint performance, such as laser power, sintering pressure, irradiation time, and defocusing amount, were further discussed. The rapid sintering mechanism of laser sintering silver nanoparticles(AgNPs) was revealed, while microscopic explanations need to be further explored. This review provided ideas and methods for subsequent researchers to develop rapid sintering methods for power electronic packaging.@en