Direct Copper Bonded (DCB) substrates or Direct Bonded Copper (DBC) substrates are actually the same substrates, just with different names.
These substrates consist of a ceramic insulator, usually Al2O3 (aluminum oxide), AIN (aluminum nitride), or BeO (beryllium oxide), to which pure copper is applied in a high-temperature eutectic process and bonded to the ceramic.
The advantage over AMB substrates is the highly efficient production in continuous furnaces, unlike the AMB process, which is realized in a stack furnace. In addition, production costs are reduced compared to the AMB process, since no expensive active solder (TiAg / TiCu) and complex etching with hydrofluoric acid (HF) is necessary.
The known disadvantage of DCB substrates and the low temperature cycling resistance compared to AMB substrates, is now technologically obsolete. It is possible to increase the reliability up to 5 times by special ceramic and copper selection, as well as adapted design guidelines and manufacturing methods.
We offer a wide range of different ceramic substrates as DCB – composite material:
- Al2O3 – Alumina Ceramics 96 – 99.6%.
- ZTA – Zirconium doped (ZrO2) Al2O3 with high mechanical flexural strength of over 600 Mpa and very thin ceramic for better Rth
- AlN – Aluminum nitride ceramic with very high thermal conductivity up to 250 W/mK
- BeO – beryllium oxide with highest thermal conductivity up to 325 W/mK possible (on request)
| Al2O3-DCB Substrate | Cu [mm] | 0,127 | 0,2 | 0,3 | 0,4 | 0,5 | 0,6 |
| Ceramic [mm] | 0,25 | x | x | R&D | |||
| 0,381 | x | x | x | ||||
| 0,635 | x | x | x | ||||
| 1,0 | x | x | x | x |
| ZTA-DCB Substrats | Cu [mm] | 0,127 | 0,2 | 0,3 | 0,4 | 0,5 | 0,6 |
| Ceramic [mm] | 0,2 | R&D | R&D | R&D | R&D | ||
| 0,25 | x | x | x | x | |||
| 0,32 | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| AlN-DCB Substrat | Cu [mm] | 0,3 | 0,4 | 0,5 | 0,6 | 0,8 | 1,0 | 2,0 |
| Ceramic [mm] | 0,381 | x | R&D | |||||
| 0,635 | x | x | ||||||
| 1,0 | x | x |