Die Attach Materials for High Temperature Applications: A Review

The need for high power density and high temperature capabilities in today's electronic devices continues to grow. More robust devices with reliable and stable functioning capabilities are needed, for example in aerospace and automotive industries as well as sensor technology. These devices need to perform under extreme temperature conditions, and not show any deterioration in terms of switching speeds, junction temperatures, and power density, and so on. While the bulk of research is performed to source and manufacture these high temperature devices, the device interconnect technology remains under high focus for packaging. The die attach material has to withstand high temperatures generated during device functioning and also cope with external conditions which will directly determine how well the device performs in the field. This literature work seeks to review the numerous research attempts thus far for high temperature die attach materials on wide band gap materials of silicon carbide, gallium nitride and diamond, document their successes, concerns and application possibilities, all of which are essential for high temperature reliability.