Highly reliable thick film solutions for power LEDs and electronics

This paper presents Thick Printed Copper (TPC) and Celcion® as thick film technologies for a broad spectrum of industrial applications, which feature a strongly improved reliability combined with a high degree of design freedom compared to the incumbent technologies. The advantages of TPC over Direct Bonded Copper (DBC) substrates will be demonstrated by thermal shock test results and a demonstration of the versatile design options. Concluding the power electronic section, a detailed review is given discussing the different copper to ceramic bonding mechanisms, which prevent void formation and are responsible for the excellent thermo-mechanical reliability. For LED applications Celcion® is demonstrated to have a superior thermal conductivity, which reduces the LED junction temperature under load by up to 10 °C. This allows for higher LED lifetimes and a reduction of heat sink size.