The joint project began in July 2023. Heraeus Electronics met with all partners at the headquarters of the sinter equipment manufacturer Budatec in Berlin for the project launch on July 12-13, 2023. Other partners and participants in this project are: Vitesco Technologies as well as the Chemnitz University of Technology and the Fraunhofer Institutes ENAS and IMWS.
In the KuSIn project, pastes, tools, machines, and processes for inductive sintering of copper particles for (multi-)die and substrate attach in electromobility, and related power electronics applications will be developed. Silver will be substituted by copper as a joining material in a resource-efficient way. The required higher sinter temperatures and the higher oxidation tendency of copper compared to silver are addressed by fast, selective, and energy-efficient inductive heating. The use of copper as a joining material in combination with induction heating is expected to enable significant improvements in process costs and energy efficiency while maintaining reliability compared to conventional silver sinter processes. Especially the increased use of sintering metal-ceramic substrates on heat sinks or other large-area structures, this could further support the spread of low-temperature sinter technology in power electronics.
Heraeus Electronics will develop copper pastes and processes for inductive sintering of copper particles for die and substrate attach for power electronic assemblies. Both material cost reduction and high-cost process parameters such as sinter temperature, time and pressure will be addressed.