Highly Conductive Cu–Cu Joint Formation by Low-Temperature Sintering of Formic Acid-Treated Cu Nanoparticles

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Highly conductive Cu-Cu interconnections of SiC die with Ti/Ni/Cu metallization and direct bonded copper substrate for high-power semiconductor devices are achieved by the low-temperature sintering of Cu nanoparticles with a formic acid treatment. The Cu-Cu joints formed via a long-range sintering process exhibited good electrical conductivity and high strength. When sintered at 260 °C, the Cu nanoparticle layer exhibited a low resistivity of 5.65 μΩ·cm and the joints displayed a high shear strength of 43.4 MPa. When sintered at 320 °C, the resistivity decreased to 3.16 μΩ·cm and the shear strength increased to 51.7 MPa. The microstructure analysis demonstrated that the formation of Cu-Cu joints was realized by metallurgical bonding at the contact interface between the Cu pad and the sintered Cu nanoparticle layer, and the densely sintered layer was composed of polycrystals with a size of hundreds of nanometers. In addition, high-density twins were found in the interior of the sintered layer, which contributed to the improvement of the performance of the Cu-Cu joints. This bonding technology is suitable for high-power devices operating under high temperatures.