Metallic Substrates for Future Semiconductor Technology and Green IT

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

An international research team headed by the Jülich chemist Dr. Hilde Hardtdegen was the first to develop high-performance transistors on a metallic carrier material. The metal substrate not only reduces the heating of the semiconductor and conducts most of the heat effectively, but also makes the device more stable.

The ever-increasing miniaturization of semiconductor components makes our computers and mobile phones smaller and more powerful, but it has a price. As more and more individual components are integrated in the smallest space, the packing density also increases. This makes it more difficult to dissipate the heat generated by the current flow. This heat development not only has a detrimental effect on the function of the components, but also on their service life. Efficient heat dissipation is therefore essential for the further development of circuits, especially when high computing speeds and performance are required. Therefore, new concepts are required - such as metallic carrier materials for semiconductor components.

"Metals are very good heat conductors," explains Hildehardtdegen from the Jülich Peter Grünberg Institute. "However, so far, they have not been considered as carrier materials. Different chemical and physical properties and above all differences in the crystal lattice made it impossible to apply monocrystalline semiconductor layers to metallic substrates using conventional methods."

The effective heat dissipation is the key 

Jülich scientists have now succeeded for the first time, together with colleagues from Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Australia. "It was crucial that we had to reduce the temperature needed for the separation process," explains Hardtdegen. "In particular, we had to ensure controlled heating and cooling of the specimens, so we could prevent mechanical stress build-up at the boundary layer between the metallic carrier material and the semiconductor layer."

How much better do metalic materials carry away the heat? That depends on the temperature range, explains Hardtdegen. "High-performance transistors heat up from room temperature to several hundred degrees Celsius during operation, and the silver support materials used by us show more than eight times the thermal conductivity of conventional Sapphire substrates Semiconductor structures by up to 70%. "

From airplanes to mobile phones

The possible applications for such a metallic carrier material are numerous: high-performance electronics for mobile radio networks, components for the automotive and aircraft industry, even everyday devices such as mobile phones or tablets - just wherever heat development can adversely affect the function of devices.

But still the future music is. "The processes optimized in the laboratory would, of course, have to be adapted to the requirements of mass production, as well as to the respective technical specifications for various end products," says Hardtdegen. "Above all, stability and repeatability need to be optimized." The most optimistic assessment of the actual use of their development is five to seven years.