Six years after their birth, terahertz quantum-cascade lasers can now deliver milliwatts or more of continuous-wave coherent radiation throughout the terahertz range — the spectral regime between millimetre and infrared wavelengths, which has long resisted development. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art and future prospects for these lasers, including efforts to increase their operating temperatures, deliver higher output powers and emit longer wavelengths.

Terahertz quantum-cascade lasers

The need for high power density and high temperature capabilities in today's electronic devices continues to grow. More robust devices with reliable and stable functioning capabilities are needed, for example in aerospace and automotive industries as well as sensor technology. These devices need to perform under extreme temperature conditions, and not show any deterioration in terms of switching speeds, junction temperatures, and power density, and so on. While the bulk of research is performed to source and manufacture these high temperature devices, the device interconnect technology remains under high focus for packaging. The die attach material has to withstand high temperatures generated during device functioning and also cope with external conditions which will directly determine how well the device performs in the field. This literature work seeks to review the numerous research attempts thus far for high temperature die attach materials on wide band gap materials of silicon carbide, gallium nitride and diamond, document their successes, concerns and application possibilities, all of which are essential for high temperature reliability.

Die Attach Materials for High Temperature Applications: A Review

We report lasing at ∼3.0 THz (λ≈98–102 μm) in a quantum-cascade structure in which mode confinement is provided by a double-sided metal waveguide. The depopulation mechanism is based on resonant phonon scattering, as in our previous work. Lasing takes place in pulsed mode up to a heat-sink temperature of 77 K. The waveguide consists of metallic films placed above and below the 10-μm-thick multiple-quantum-well gain region, which gives low losses and a modal confinement factor of nearly unity. Fabrication takes place via low-temperature metallic wafer bonding and subsequent substrate removal using selective etching. This type of waveguide is expected to be increasingly advantageous at even longer wavelengths.

Terahertz quantum-cascade laser at λ≈100 μm using metal waveguide for mode confinement

Interfacial reaction in Cu/Sn/Cu system during the transient liquid phase soldering process

Recently, high-temperature power devices have become a popular discussion topic because of their various potential applications in the automotive, down-hole oil and gas industries for well logging, aircraft, space exploration, nuclear environments, and radars. Devices for these applications are fabricated on silicon carbide-based semiconductor material. For these devices to perform effectively, an appropriate die attach material with specific requirements must be selected and employed correctly. This article presents a review of this topic, with a focus on the die attach materials operating at temperatures higher than 623 K (350 °C). Future challenges and prospects related to high-temperature die attach materials also are proposed at the end of this article.

A Review on Die Attach Materials for SiC-Based High-Temperature Power Devices

AuSn alloy phase diagram and properties related to its use as a bonding medium

A bonding method using Au-In alloy which requires a low process temperature of 200 degrees C to produce high temperature (454 degrees C) bonds is reported. Multiple layers of Au and In are deposited on semiconductor wafers in one vacuum cycle to reduce In oxidation. The semiconductor dice are then bonded to substrates coated with Au. Above 157 degrees C, the indium layer melts and dissolves the Au layers to form a mixture of liquid and solid. The solid-liquid interdiffusion process continues until the mixture solidifies to form the Au-In bond. A scanning acoustic microscope (SAM) was used to determine the excellent bonding quality before and after thermal shock tests while an energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) was employed to determine the composition of the resulting bonds. The resulting bond has an unbonding temperature greater than 545 degrees C. Due to the low process temperature, the stress on the bonded structure caused by thermal expansion mismatch is reduced. This type of bonding is useful when bonding at a low temperature is followed by a subsequent higher temperature process. >

Au-In bonding below the eutectic temperature

Advances in Bonding Technology for Electronic Packaging

A low temperature bonding process using deposited gold-tin composites

The authors report a technique which needs only 240 degrees C to produce nearly eutectic Au-Sn bonding. After bonding, the device can take a postprocessing temperature of 250 degrees C without bonding degradation. The bonding medium consists of Au-Sn multilayer composite deposited directly on the object to be bonded. This technology also eliminates the preforms, reduces tin oxidation, and provides good control of bonding layer thickness. Results of bonding 2 mm*3 mm GaAs dice show that high-quality bondings are obtained, as evaluated by a scanning acoustic microscope. The specimens underwent 40 cycles of thermal shock test between -196 degrees C and 160 degrees C without bonding degradation and die cracking. Scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray studies reveal interesting characteristics of the bonding process. Melting point tests confirm that the bonding layer indeed has a melting temperature of 280 degrees C, higher than the 240 degrees C process temperature. >

Chen Y. Wang

Papers

AuSn alloy phase diagram and properties related to its use as a bonding medium

Au-In bonding below the eutectic temperature

Advances in Bonding Technology for Electronic Packaging

A low temperature bonding process using deposited gold-tin composites

An eutectic bonding technology at a temperature below the eutectic point