Microstructural Anisotropy-Governed Thermal Performance of Pressureless Sintered Silver in QFN Packaging

Abstract

Pressureless sintered silver paste is widely used in SiC power electronic packaging for its superior thermal and electrical properties, enabling efficient heat dissipation and improved device reliability. Current thermal conductivity models frequently assume isotropic thermal behavior to simplify heat transfer calculations, yet these models neglect the inherent anisotropic porosity of sintered silver materials. This omission introduces errors in the characterization of these materials' thermal performance. This research investigates how the spatial anisotropic distribution of pressureless sintered silver's microstructure impacts QFN packaging's overall thermal conduction performance. This investigation is achieved by comparing lateral/vertical porosity differences between two materials and applying multidimensional thermal conductivity modeling. Two types of pressureless sintered silver were employed as die-attach materials to fabricate SiC MOSFET-based QFN packaging. The sintered microstructures' lateral and vertical cross-sections were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), enabling quantitative extraction of anisotropic porosity distributions. Subsequently, a numerical model was developed using the extracted porosity data to enhance the accuracy of heat transfer predictions in sintered silver layers while considering anisotropic thermal conductivity. Thermal resistance characterization was conducted on two QFN packages, and the accuracy of the proposed modeling methodology was validated by establishing the interrelation between experimental thermal resistance measurements and theoretical thermal conductivity predictions. This study demonstrates a refined approach to evaluating and optimizing sintered silver materials, providing a more accurate and application-driven thermal management strategy for SiC MOSFET power packaging.