The European SEEL (Solutions for energy efficient lighting) project: High temperature electronics for LED-lighting architectures

Due to superior properties in energy-efficiency and design freedom, the “liberation of light” by LED-technology will draw more attention in future applications. Within the European SEEL project, the partners are performing research in enabling technologies for high-temperature electronics (up to 185°C) to be designed into the next generation of high-efficient LED-driver circuits. This requires high-temperature evaluation of the product architecture of electronic components, i.e. the 1st-level interconnection, i.e. the chip metallization and the chip bonding technology. Different methods such as Au- and Cu-wirebonding as well as soft-soldering technologies are evaluated and discussed. The material properties, i.e. the encapsulating mound compound and the die adhesives play an important role as these materials tend to degrade at elevated temperatures. On top of that, also the board mounting architecture of the products, i.e. the board materials and the interconnection techniques such as high-temperature sol...