Ceramic-Aluminum Bonding Trenches for Delamination Prevention
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The challenges in manufacturing ceramic support pedestals include poor wettability and incompatible thermal expansion between brazing metals and ceramic materials, leading to cracks or delamination, and the need for high-temperature, high-pressure equipment, which limits material selection and increases costs.
Innovation Solution
A method involving the use of aluminum material placed within trenches on ceramic members, where the members are brought together under heat and pressure to bond along adjacent faces, achieving a spacing of less than 5 μm, allowing for bonding without the need for high-pressure, high-temperature equipment and enabling the use of a wider range of materials.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If brazing is used to bond ceramic substrates, then the joints can be formed, but poor wettability and incompatible thermal expansion cause cracks or delamination
Solution Approach 1:
A metal interlayer (such as copper, nickel, or their alloys) is introduced between the ceramic substrates and brazing materials. This interlayer serves as a mediator that improves wettability with the brazing material and provides a transition zone for thermal expansion, preventing direct contact between incompatible materials and eliminating the source of cracks and delamination.
Solution Approach 2:
The bonding structure is designed as a composite system consisting of ceramic substrates, metal interlayers, and brazing materials. Each layer is selected for its specific properties: ceramic for structural integrity, metal interlayer for wettability and thermal expansion matching, and brazing material for strong bonding. This composite approach resolves the incompatibility between ceramic and brazing materials.
2Manufacturing precision
If hot pressing is used to form ceramic substrates, then densification is enhanced, but high-temperature and high-pressure equipment is required, increasing manufacturing costs
Solution Approach 1:
The bonding process parameters are optimized to achieve effective bonding at lower temperatures and pressures compared to traditional hot pressing. By controlling parameters such as bonding temperature, pressure, and time, the process achieves sufficient densification and bonding strength without requiring expensive high-temperature and high-pressure equipment.
3Manufacturing precision
If high-temperature and high-pressure equipment is used for hot pressing, then ceramic densification is achieved, but material selection for functional elements is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The bonding process uses modified temperature and pressure parameters that are less restrictive than traditional hot pressing. This allows functional elements with lower melting points or different thermal stability characteristics to be embedded in the ceramic substrates without being damaged by extreme conditions, significantly expanding material selection options.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This method effectively bonds ceramic materials with improved thermal stability and reduced manufacturing costs, allowing for the use of a variety of materials and enabling the creation of ceramic pedestals suitable for semiconductor processing without the risks of delamination.
Implementation Method 1
applying a force and heat to the assembly above a melting point of the solid aluminum material such that the solid aluminum material flows into the trench
Implementation Method 2
applying additional heat to the assembly at or above a wetting temperature of the member in which the trench is formed to bond the first member to the second member
Implementation Method 3
applying additional heat to the assembly at or above a wetting temperature of the member in which the trench is formed to bond the first member to the second member
Data Source
AI summary
An assembly includes a first member, a second member adjacent to the first member, and an aluminum material. At least one of the first member and the second member defines at least one trench. The aluminum material is disposed within the trench and bonds the first member to the second member along adjacent faces. In one form, a spacing between the first member and the second member along the adjacent faces is less than 5 μm.