ALPHA MAXREL Alloy Improves Reliability in LED Chip-On-Board Assemblies

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Alpha, the world leader in the production of electronic soldering and bonding materials, has developed advanced alloys for improved thermal stability and reliability for high temperature operation and higher thermal fatigue and vibration resistance, the first of which is known as the ALPHA MAXREL alloy.

Available in solder paste, preform and wire format, the ALPHA MAXREL alloy has proven very effective for LED Chip-on-Board (COB) Assembly applications, where high CTE mismatch can exist between the die stack and substrate, and creep fatigue properties of the solder material are important..

“It has been shown that the ALPHA MAXREL alloy maintains excellent shear strength even after 1000 thermal cycles under high CTE mismatch conditions,” said Ravi Bhatkal, Vice President, Energy Technologies at Alpha.  “In the case of high power LED assemblies, such as for outdoor lighting or automotive applications, the CTE mismatch is quite high, causing significant strain energy build-up during thermal cycling, in the solder joint between the LED die and the Metal Core PCB.  This can cause micro-cracking and eventually failure of the joint.  It is therefore important to use alloys that will create strong solder joints with improved thermal fatigue/creep and vibration resistance to ensure long-term reliability.”

A variety of die attach materials, including solder, conductive adhesives, or sintered materials can be used to bond LEDs to the substrate, depending on requirements.  In addition, Alpha offers ALPHA Lumet P39 Solder Paste with MAXREL Alloy to enhance reliability for high-power LED COB assemblies.

Alpha’s innovative LED products help optimize the LED industry’s technology drivers of cost per lumen, efficiency, brightness and reliability over lifetime.  For more information on ALPHA® LED materials, visit our website.

About Alpha

Alpha, a business unit of Alent plc, is the global leader in the development, manufacturing and sales of innovative specialty materials used in a wide range of industry segments, including electronics assembly, power electronics, die attach, LED lighting, photovoltaics, semiconductor packaging, automotive and others.

With a unique global presence in over 30 locations throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific regions, Alpha supplies a full line of ALPHA electronics assembly material products, including Solder Paste, Exactalloy Solder Preforms, Cored Solder Wire Solder, Wave Soldering Fluxes, Bar Solder Alloys, and Stencils.  It offers die attach product technologies to the power electronics segment in its Argomax, Atrox, Maxrel, and Fortibond brands. For the LED segment, Alpha offers its Lumet products covering applications from die attach to systems assembly in the LED manufacturing process.

Alpha also offers product technologies for the Photovoltaic segment, including its unique pre-fluxed ALPHA PV Ready Ribbon, high performance standard ribbon, bus bar, solder wire and flux. Alpha’s Advanced Materials unit is the leader in electronic polymers and solder materials for semiconductor packaging applications.  Since its founding in 1872, Alpha has been committed to developing and manufacturing the highest quality specialty materials.  For more information, visit www.alpha.alent.com.