2017 journal article

Characterization of Ultra-Thin Epoxy-Resin Based Dielectric Substrate for Flexible Power Electronics Applications

International Symposium on Microelectronics, 2017(1), 000151–000156.

co-author countries: United States of America 🇺🇸
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Added: January 25, 2020

Abstract Available substrate materials for power module applications has been investigated for a long time. Though Direct Bonded Copper (DBC) substrates, nowadays, have been widely applied in power electronics applications, especially power modules, due to its superior performance in mechanical ruggedness, thermal conductivity, and isolation capability. Its cost and complicated requirements during fabrication processes are always concerns in industries. At the same time, flexible electronics has become a rapidly expanding area with commercial applications including displays, medical, automotive, sensors arrays, wearable electronics, etc. This paper will initiate an investigation on a dielectric material that has potential in high power wearable electronics applications. A recently developed ultra-thin Epoxy-Resin Based Dielectric (ERBD) substrate material which is suitable for power electronic applications, is introduced. The ERBD can be fabricated with thickness as low as 80μm, with more than 5kV DC isolation capability. Its thermal conductivity is 8W/mK, higher than similar product currently available in the market. ERBD is also able to be bonded with Cu plates on both sides. In this paper, the properties of ERBD are investigated. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) is applied to analyze the microstructure of ERBD, and its bonding interface with Cu plates. 3-omega and Transient Thermal Reflectance methods are employed to precisely measure the thermal conductivity. Dielectric constant and loss are measured at different frequency. Simulations are applied to correct the error from the fringing effect during the measurement. The leakage current of ERBD is also measured under different voltage and temperature with DC and AC condition. Reliability tests are conducted to examine the electrical isolation and shearing strength of ERBD. The suitability of ERBD for potential flexible power electronics application is discussed based on the results from investigation of properties of the dielectric.