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Materials Science Division |
HighlightsExamination of Buried Bonding Interfaces for Microsystem ApplicationsExamination of Buried Bonding Interfaces for Microsystem Applications Scientific Achievement Louisiana
State University
Department of Mechanical Engineering (LSU-ME) excels at micro/nano
systems engineering.
Fabrication and application of metal-based microdevices forms one part
of the
MEMS/NEMS R&D effort at LSU-ME. Technologies that can achieve
easy,
reliable, and high-strength bonding across microscale interfaces in
metals are
critical to assembly of metal-based microdevices. Al-based devices are
important in different areas, for example, as microchannel heat
exchangers for
high heat flux removal applications.
Simultaneous bonding across numerous microscale interfaces
is important
for assembly of Al-based microdevices.
The work executed at Argonne's EMC during 2008, namely,
structural and
chemical examinations of buried Al-Al interfaces bonded with Al-Ge
nanocomposite thin film intermediate layers, forms a critical part of
our
ongoing program in building metal-based microdevices.
Access to resources within Argonne's EMC, in
particular, the focused ion beam (FIB) instrument, allowed buried
bonding
interfaces to be examined without mechanical contact, thereby ensuring
reliability of results. What
is learned
from FIB assisted bonding interface examinations is that the Al-Ge thin
film
intermediate layer assisted bonding process leads to the formation of
an
extended, ~100 micron wide, interface region, in which micro/nano scale
Ge
precipitates disperse randomly. Such
observations suggest that bonding mechanisms combine liquidus/solidus
reactions
with solid state diffusion, and that the extended interface region
leads to
increased bonding strength. Significance This work suggests metallurgical pathways to achieve high quality bonding across numerous microscale metal-metal interfaces. The result of this work has been published in J. Mater. Res. 24, 544-555 (2009). Follow-up research will include microscale bonding studies on different material systems, together with bonding mechanism investigations. Reliable and economical microscale bonding technologies is a critical enabler for metal-based microdevices. Future R&D will target high-impact applications and demonstrate the technical and economical feasibility of metal-based microdevices. Performers 
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