Sintered Conductive Adhesives for HB-LED Thermal Management

Continuous improvements in high-brightness light emitting diode (HB/LED) technologies have opened up the possibility for utilization of these devices for general illumination. However, before HB/LEDs can replace traditional lighting sources, improvements to their thermal management schemes, particularly the bonding technologies that hold the device components together, must be developed to ensure consistent color quality and competitive operational lifetimes. Conductive adhesives are typically used for low-cost assembly, but these materials represent the weakest point in the thermal path. This project will develop sintered conductive adhesives that will form metallurgical bonds with the device components, providing at least an order-of-magnitude better thermal performance than existing adhesive technologies. These low-cost, lead-free materials will be designed as drop-in replacements for existing manufacturing processes. Commercial Applications and other Benefits as described by the awardee: The new materials should make an ideal replacement for silver-filled conductive adhesives in a wide variety of applications requiring thermal management, and they may ultimately replace high-lead solders in power electronics applications as well.