Fabrication of Functionally Graded Diamond/Al Composites by Liquid-Solid Separation Technology

The electronic packaging shell, the necessary material for hermetic packaging of large microelectronic device chips, is made by mechanical processing of a uniform block. However, the property variety requirements at different positions of the shell due to the performance have not been solved. An independently developed liquid-solid separation technology is applied to fabricate the diamond/Al composites with a graded distribution of diamond particles. The diamond content decreases along a gradient from the bottom of the shell, which houses the chips, to the top of the shell wall, which is welded with the cover plate. The bottom of the shell has a thermal conductivity (TC) of 169 W/mK, coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of 11.0 × 10^-6/K, bending strength of 88 MPa, and diamond content of 48 vol.%. The top of the shell has a TC of 108 W/mK, CTE of 19.3 × 10^-6/K, bending strength of 175 MPa, and diamond content of 15 vol.%, which solves the special requirements of different parts of the shell and helps to improve the thermal stability of packaging components. Moreover, the interfacial characteristics are also investigated. This work provides a promising approach for the preparation of packaging shells by near-net shape forming.