Tanaka Develops Active Brazing Filler Metal/Copper Composite Material for Power Devices

The new product is a composite (cladding) of copper (Cu) material with active brazing filler metal on one side. Since it can be joined directly to any material including ceramics (oxides, nitrides, and carbides) and carbon materials, it is expected that it will be used in ceramic substrates and next-generation heat sinks for power devices. In addition, Tanaka can make various proposals tailored to customer needs ranging from supply of prototypes using this product to brazing processes, testing, and evaluation.

• The thick Cu electrodes needed for high heat dissipation heat sinks can be formed Directly on ceramics, which was difficult to do with existing etching processes. This makes possible even finer wiring pitch.
• Since the material does not contain any solvents, there is no residue and bonding reliability is improved.

• The brazing filler thickness can be 10 μm (micrometers) or less, which means that compared to earlier active brazing filler metal, silver bullion costs can be reduced by half or more and the brazing filler thermal resistance is halved.
• The Cu material is compounded, which means that a pattern can be formed simply by setting the material, reducing processing costs.

• Since the material contains no solvents, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are not released.

In addition, the brazing time can be greatly reduced, which leads to energy savings and can be expected to reduce environmental impact. 

As a result of these features, this product can be used in a wide range of semiconductor applications, with expectations particularly high for deployment in the heat dissipation field.

In the power devices market, higher outputs and increased efficiency are demanded, and in conjunction with this, heat generation is rising. 

Tanaka plans to begin full-scale sample shipments in 2021 and establish a mass production system in 2023.