Development of new transient liquid phase system Au-Sn-Au for microsystem technology

Abstract

In the last decade, microsystems evolved to decisive technology in many technical applications. With increasing requirements on the performance of microsystems, more and more dissimilar materials are used in the same assembly. Correspondingly, suitable joining methods are required to fulfil the requirements on good properties of joints. In this study, a new transient liquid phase (TLP) system Au-Sn-Au was developed for potential medical applications in hybrid microsystems. The high and low melting phases Au and Sn were deposited onto diverse substrates by magnetron-sputter-ion plating. The coated substrates were soldered in a microsoldering station under different conditions. The influence of soldering conditions on the microstructure and properties of the joints was investigated. Results show that the developed solder led to high-quality joints that can be used in microsystems for medical applications.

Keywords

transient liquid phase / microtechnology / soldering / diffusion / physical vapor deposition (PVD)

References

[1] Bader S, Gust W, Hieber H. Rapid formation of intermetallic compounds by interdiffusion in the Cu-Sn and Ni-Sn systems. Acta Metallurgica et Materialia, 1995, 43(1): 329–335

[2] Jacobson D M, Humpston G. Diffusion soldering. Soldering & Surface Mount Technology, 1992, 10: 27–32

[3] Bader S, Gust W, Hieber H. Formation and constitution of isothermally solidified joints. DVS-Berichte, 1990, 129: 227–231

[4] Lugscheider E, Bobzin K, Maes M, Ferrara S, Erdle A. Advancment in low melting solder deposition by pulsed magnetron sputter-PVD-process for microsystemtechnology. In: Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Plasma Surface Engineering PSE 04, Surface and Coatings Technology, 2005, 200(1–4): 444–447

[5] Lugscheider E, Bobzin K, Erdle A. Solder deposition for transient liquid phase (TLP)-bonding by MSIP-PVD-process. Surface & Coatings Technology, 2003, 174–175: 704–707

[6] Bobzin K, Lugscheider E, Ernst F, Rösing J, Ferrara S, Boltz J, Kashko T. New solders for microjoints in the medical and aerospace area. DVS-Berichte, 2007, 243: 331–337

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the German Science Foundation (DFG) within the Collaborative Research Center (SFB) 440 “Assembly of Hybrid Microsystems”.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg