Empfasis - Power Electronics and Packaging Facility

As a part of meeting the U.S. Navy's goals for integrated power and propulsion, Navy ManTech, through the National Electronics Center of Excellence, will establish a power electronics assembly and packaging capability. This will entail analytical and electronic packaging equipment that will be used to support current and future U.S. Navy surface ship platforms that require advanced power electronics. It will also provide power electronics device prototyping capabilities for the U.S. Navy and will enable device level failure analysis and reliability testing on power electronics and high power RF components.

The use of reliable power electronics is critical to the DDG-1000 multi-mission destroyer (Figure 1-1) and other future surface ship platforms. Several demands will be placed on future power systems used in U.S. Navy ship programs. Specifically, the following challenges must be addressed when considering insertion of new technologies into advanced all-electric ship platforms:

Power electronics used in advanced ship platforms must provide higher current density, switch at higher frequencies, and operate at higher temperatures.
Power electronics packages available today are not designed or built to meet environmental and operational demands.
The risks associated with inserting advanced devices on board future DDG-1000 and other future surface ships must be mitigated.
Power electronic systems must be reliable, maintainable, and supportable.
New technologies must be thoroughly tested and failures anticipated prior to implementation.
Commercial materials suppliers and component vendors are risk averse.
Advanced power devices must be applied to power systems used in future surface ship platforms.

Utilizing the Electronics Manufacturing Productivity Facility (EMPF) in Philadelphia, a U.S. Navy Center of Excellence (COE), the power electronics assembly and packaging laboratory will analyze, repackage, and test advanced semiconductor electronics. The COE also will provide a source for the development of packaging materials for technologies such as wide band gap and advanced semiconductor devices. This development and testing will be essential to aid and shorten the development cycle for the DDG-1000 and other advanced surface ships.

The facility will benefit future U.S. Navy surface ship platforms by developing capabilities and solutions for the following:

Electronic packaging for high power semiconductors
High temperature wire bonding materials and techniques
High temperature die attach materials and techniques
Near-hermetic high temperature housing materials, die coatings, and encapsulates
Simulations and models for mechanical, electrical, RF, thermal, and thermo-fluid designs
Shorter R&D cycles for RF devices, systems in a package (SiP), and power semiconductor packages and materials
Packaging for high thermal conductivity materials, such as adhesives, thermal pastes, thermal heat spreaders, heat sinks, and die attach solders for junction temperatures greater than 200ºC
More affordable commercial packaging solutions for up to 200ºC operation, high current density packages and modules, high frequency packages and modules, and high voltage packages and modules

The development of an advanced power electronics assembly and packaging process capability will require modern equipment to build advanced prototype module packages. The COE will utilize flexible precision µm accuracy placement equipment for placing flip chip die, optical components, and face-up die using adhesive, eutectic, or solder technologies to bond the semiconductor die; a high-speed thermosonic ball-and-stitch wire bonder; a class 10,000 clean area that provides HEPA filtering of the existing room air to remove contaminating particulates; and dedicated ovens for epoxy curing, package bake-out, and after plasma cleaning to assist with repair of defects. The manufacturing equipment to be used will enable the COE to process emerging power technologies and to experiment with new materials and advanced techniques. This equipment will be coupled with existing EMPF manufacturing and process capabilities to provide a full-service power device packaging facility.

In addition to its production capabilities, the assembly and packaging laboratory will be a proof-of-concept facility that will employ analytical techniques such as acoustic microscopy and field emission scanning electron microscopy. This will compliment the manufacturing capability of the packaging lab through the ability to evaluate new technologies such as advanced substrates, die attach materials, and wire bond materials. This added failure analysis capability will be tailored specifically to high power devices to uncover limitations in materials and manufacturing processes. The diagnostic equipment also will be used for manufacturing process control.

The power electronics assembly and packaging facility will address the packaging requirements for high-reliability systems that have a significant need for higher power density, higher operating frequencies, and improved thermal management. The technologies developed at the EMPF packaging facility will have potentially wide applicability to Navy programs, and will be immediately utilized to support current and future Navy manufacturing technologies for DDG-1000. The laboratory can be used to determine package requirements, build reliable packages, and qualify the packaging for use in high-reliability applications. In these applications, outlining power, performance, and packaging details in terms of form/fit/function will be paramount. The laboratory also will aid in designing and/or improving device package layout, including device orientation, wiring configurations, and schematics. This will allow for the best electrical and thermal performance for the device. The laboratory will enable new packages to be built using new die, substrates, and attach materials. Finally, improved wire bonding materials and techniques, including enhanced materials and processes for high temperature operation, will be an additional benefit of the packaging facility.

The ability to test and analyze prototypes is integral to the ability to assemble improved power electronics packages. This reason-enhanced testing and analytical capability will be built into the facility, complimenting the packaging capability and qualifying materials and processes.