260 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRONICS PACKAGING MANUFACTURING, VOL. 31, NO.
3, JULY 2008
Processing of Silvar for MIC Packaging Applications
Eluri Ravindranadh Tagore, Anish Upadhyaya, and Anand V. Pathak
Abstract—Materials with high thermal conductivity and thermal
expansion coefficient matching with that of GaAs are being used
for packaging high-density microwave integrated circuits (MICs)
due to their ability of faster heat dissipation. Powder metallurgy
(P/M) has emerged as a promising technique for the processing
of metal matrix composites (MMCs) in satellite applications such
as thermal management materials. Individual components in
these composites must retain their metallurgical identity. The
present study investigates the processing of silvar (Fe–Ni–Co–Ag)
alloys for thermal management materials. For these silvar alloys,
composition was varied by varying the silver content from 15 to
35 wt. %. The compacts were pressed at 400 and 600 MPa and
sintered/infiltrated at 1100 C, 1150 C, and 1225 C. Quantitative
metallographic measurements were performed on all sample and
the results were discussed. It was observed that all samples were
sintered without any shape distortion. Microstructural evalua-
tion reveals that higher compaction pressure resulted in highly
contiguous structure. In spite of density differences between
constituents, none of the alloys showed segregation. Coefficient
of thermal expansion (CTE) values of the liquid phase sintered
composites is near to the values obtained by rule of mixtures.
Index Terms—Coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) and
thermal conductivity, electronic packaging, metal matrix com-
posite (MMC), powder metallurgy (P/M), silvar.
I. INTRODUCTION
HE continuing increase in the electronic packaging
T density has resulted in a need for materials with high
thermal conductivities. In addition, to minimizing thermal
stresses that can cause component or solder failure, packaging
materials must have coefficients of thermal expansion (CTEs)
matching those of ceramic substrates (such as Al O , AlN),
and semiconductors (Si and GaAs). Further, low densities are
preferred in aerospace and avionic applications. The use and
potential for composites in electronic packaging is very broad.
By combining two or more constituents, it is possible to create
materials with unique combinations of properties that cannot
be achieved in any another way.
In recent years, new composites have been developed that
provide unique combinations of properties that make them
Manuscript received March 28, 2007; revised October 12, 2007. Published
July 7, 2008 (projected). This work was supported in part by the Department of
Space, Government of India, administered by the IIT-Kanpur Space Technology
cell. This work was recommended for publication by Associate Editor I. Fidan
upon evaluation of the reviewers comments.
E. R. Tagore was with the International Advanced Research Center for
Powder Metallurgy and New Materials, Hyderabad 500005, India. He is now
with the School of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Oregon State
University, Corvallis, OR 97331 USA.
A. Upadhyaya is with the Department of Materials and Metallurgical
Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology—Kanpur, Kanpur 208016, India
(e-mail: anishu@iitk.ac.in).
A. V. Pathak is with the Space Application Center, Indian Space Research
Organization, Ahmedabad 380015, India.
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TEPM.2008.926287
1521-334X/$25.00 © 2008 IEEE
outstanding candidates for packaging applications. The four
classes of materials are polymer matrix composites, metal
matrix composites, and carbon–carbon composites. Tradition-
ally, invar (Fe–Ni), kovar (Fe–Ni–Co), Cu–W, Cu–Mo, Cu,
and Al have been used as packaging, substrate carrier plates,
or heat sinks [1], [2]. Kovar has been used as a microwave
substrate carrier plate in order to provide mechanical support
to the alumina which has been used as a substrate. Although
the CTE of kovar nearly matches that of alumina, its thermal
conductivity is poor. Cu–W and Cu–Mo have required CTE and
thermal conductivity, but density and machining costs involved
are high. Although Cu and Al have high thermal conductivity,
their CTE is much higher. Consequently, marginally thermal
stress compensating materials, such as alumina are needed. As
a result, the ability of Cu or Al to dissipate heat faster can no
longer be realized due to the additional thermal resistance of
alumina. The inability of traditional materials to dissipate the
heat generated due to ever increasing power densities led to the
development of alternate packaging materials such as Al–SiC
composites. The CTE of Al–SiC can be tailored anywhere
between 5–18 ppm/K while maintaining a thermal conductivity
of 170–180 Wm K by changing the Al-to-SiC ratio on the
composite. However, Al–SiC composites are very difficult to
machine [3].
As described in the previous sections, thermal management
materials are generally processed through powder metallurgical
techniques, either by liquid phase sintering or infiltration.
W- and Mo-based materials are often made by P/M methods
including pressing and sintering followed by infiltration with
copper [4]. While these materials have the desirable range of
thermal expansion and conductivity, their poor machinability
and platability have been a matter of concern. Elsewhere, ce-
ramic-based materials were processed by using AlN as starting
material. Due to the significant amount of dissolved oxygen
in the starting material, it forms a fine layer of Al O on the
surface and resists densification [5]. Further work aimed at
densification of AlN through liquid phase sintering by addition
of small amounts of CaO Y O . This combines with Al O
from AlN and forms liquid phase at 1780 C resulting in
99% sintered density [6]. Cuvar is another suitable material
processed by extrusion [7]. It is a composite of invar and
copper and stable in the range of 70 C to 400 C. However,
exposure to higher temperatures has shown to cause diffusional
interaction between the phases. As higher density is not desired
for avionic applications, several researchers processed a new
type material Al–SiC [8]. Generally, these composites were
processed by infiltration of liquid metal into ceramic preform
[9]. Capillary-induced infiltration has distinct advantages over
other methods in that it does not require expensive tooling
and equipment. The first such kind of infiltration of Al–Mg
alloys were made by Aghajanian et al. [10]. They showed that
a variety of ceramics, including Al O , SiC, AlN, and TiB ,
could be infiltrated in the range of 750 C to 900 C. Rao et al.
TAGORE et al.: PROCESSING OF SILVAR FOR MIC PACKAGING APPLICATIONS 261

[3] have demonstrated that these materials can be processed TABLE I

by pressureless infiltration of Al alloys instead of Al–Mg alloy ANALYSIS OF THE AS-RECEIVED POWDERS
and without any protective atmosphere. In addition to the infil-
tration technique, these Al–SiC composites can be processed
by plasma-sprayed coating. Manchang et al. [11] showed that
Al with SiC (40 to 60 vol. %) can be obtained by mixing the
powders of desired composition and spraying on to a target
material by using plasma energy. However, Al–SiC is still
restricted in use because of its poor machinability. Recently,
it has been proved that thermal management materials can be
processed through conventional casting techniques. James et al.
[12] produced Al/Graphite composite having lower density
and higher thermal conductivity than Al–SiC materials. Most
recently, invar and kovar have been used as one of the con-
stituents in thermal management materials like cuvar, kuvar,
and silvar. Systematic studies of these excellent systems are
not reported in literature. Our objective is to study the effect
of sintering parameters on the densification and properties of
silvar (composite of kovar and silver) alloys.

II. EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS

For the present investigation, kovar and silver powders were
supplied by Carpenter Powder Products (USA) and Modison,
Ltd., (india), respectively. The composition and characteristics
of the as-received powders are presented in Table I. The silvar
composites (with Ag varying from 15 to 35 wt. %) were prepared
by mixing in a Turbula mixer (model: T2C, supplier: Bachoffen,
Basel, Switzerland) for 2 h. The mixed powders were uniaxially
compacted at 400 and 600 MPa using a semi-automatic hydraulic
press (model: CTM-50, supplier: FIE, Ichalkaranji, India) with a
floating die. All the powder mixes were pressed in a cylindrical
pellet form with diameters of 8 and 16 mm and height of 5 mm.
and transverse rupture strength (TRS) bars mm .
Zinc stearate was used as die wall lubricant during compaction to
minimize friction. Sintering and infiltration were carried out in a
MoSi -heated horizontal tubular furnace (model: OKAY 70T-7,
supplier: Bysakh, Kolkata, India). The samples were heated at
a constant rate of 5 C/min in pure hydrogen atmosphere (dew
point: 35 C). The compacts were liquid phase sintered for
1 h in H atmosphere at 1100 C, 1150 C, and 1250 C and
infiltrated at 1150 C, respectively. The sintered density was
measured through dimensional measurements and by using
Archimedes principle. The densification response was expressed
numerically in terms of the densification parameter, which is
expressed as
sintered density – green density
Densification parameter
theoretical density – green density
The sintered compacts were prepared for metallographic
study without using any etching reagent. From microstructural
observations, quantitative analysis were carried out through
an image analyzer (model: Q5001W, supplier: Leica Imaging
System, Ltd., Cambridge, U.K.) attached to a computer. After
the metallographic studies, hardness of the composites was
measured by using a Vickers hardness tester (Supplier: Blue
Star, Mumbai, India) at a load of 5 Kg using a diamond indenter.
Composites were measured for electrical resistivity by using
a digital micro ohmmeter (Model: 5893, Supplier: Tinsley,
Delhi, India) with the advantage of the Weidmann–Frenz law,
Fig. 1. SEM micrograph of the as- received powders. (a) Kovar. (b) Silver.
and thermal conductivity of composites was obtained from the
electrical conductivity. CTE was measured by using a vertical
pushrod dilatometer, (Model: Unitherm 1161, supplier: Anter
Laboratories).
III. POWDER CHARACTERIZATION
The results of particle size and size distribution analysis of
as-received powder are summarized in Table I. It is evident that
silver powder is relatively finer as compared to kovar. This kind
of mixed powder sized gives the better green density. Fig. 1
shows the SEM micrographs of the as received powders. It is
clear from rounded powder morphology that both powders were
processed by gas atomization process. Such morphology gives
better powder flowability. Furthermore, silver powder appears
bimodal. Bimodal distribution of silver powder is effective to
give better packing. EDS analysis was carried out to find the
elemental composition of the powders. The composition of both
the powders is given in Table I. While silver is highly pure, kovar
consists of Fe, Ni, and Co. Fig. 2 show the SEM micrograph of
comilled (kovar and silver) powders. It shows the typical milled
flaky morphology. Kovar powder got coated by the ductile silver
powder. With the effect of milling, the kovar particle size was
reduced by five times. This was revealed after sintering.
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
A. Densification Response
1) Liquid Phase Sintering: Fig. 3(a) shows the density varia-
tion of silvar alloys sintered at different temperatures. All com-
pacts were pressed at 600 MPa. It is observed that final sintered
262 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRONICS PACKAGING MANUFACTURING, VOL. 31, NO. 3, JULY 2008
Fig. 2. SEM micrograph of comilled kovar and silver powders.
Fig. 3. Effect of sintering temperature and Ag content on the (a) sintered den-
sity and (b) densification parameter.
density does not improve significantly with sintering temper-
ature. Likewise, higher silver content too does not contribute
towards densification. Even though, these alloys did undergo
liquid phase sintering. The constituent elements (Fe, Ni, and
Co) have insignificant solubility in Ag, and furthermore this
solubility limit is not affected by the temperature. Hence, in
silvar alloys, the solution-reprecipitation mechanism does not
contribute towards densification. The only possibility of densi-
fication is through solid-state sintering of kovar. Since the di-
hedral angle is higher the for Ag-kovar system, kovar forms
stable necks at the incipient melting of silver. This subsequently
hinders densification through capillary-induced rearrangement
pore filling and solid-state sintering of kovar. Fig. 3(b) shows the
densification parameter variation with sintering temperature and
Ag content. The density parameter is relatively high at 1100 C;
however, the final density is the same. Alloys sintered at 1150 C
have a lower densification parameter indicating less shrinkage.
As the temperature does not have an influence on densification,
1150 C was decided as an optimum temperature for subsequent
investigation.
None of the comixed silvar alloys result in full density; the
later being a primary requirement for all electronic packaging
materials. To achieve full density, the sintered parts were rolled
to 50% reduction in thickness. The density of rolled materials
was measured subsequently using Archimedis principle. The
obtained density was equal to the theoretical density of the alloy.
The rolled alloys were annealed at 700 C to relieve the induced
stresses. Sintering followed by rolling and annealing are neces-
sary for getting the final desired material.
2) Infiltration: An alternative processes to consolidate silvar
alloys to full density was through infiltration. Kovar powder is
Fig. 4. Sintered density variation of infiltrated silvar alloys.
highly magnetic. During the compaction stage, die filling was
very difficult because it sticks to the die wall which leads to
blockage of the punch. To avoid this, silver was partially pre-
mixed with kovar powder, and the remaining Ag was infiltrated
at 1150 C. Fig. 4 shows the sintered density variation of silvar
alloys processed through this route. It is evident that all the al-
loys attained above 95% density. In all the cases, invariably,
some silver was leftover at the top of the compact even after in-
filtration. This could be because of higher green density of the
compacts used for infiltration. So the amount of silver infiltrated
is just sufficient enough to fill the interconnected pores, and the
remaining portion of the silver was left on the surface.
To overcome the problems faced during compaction of pure
kovar, the die was demagnetized by heating prior to the com-
paction. Compacts were pressed at different pressures (200, 400,
and 600 MPa) to get different volume fractions of porosity.
However, compacts pressed at 200 MPa did not have enough
strength to handle it. Initially, an equal amount of silver was
made in the form of pellet and placed at the top of the compact
for infiltration. Due to this, some silver was invariably left on
the top of the compact which was pressed at 600 MPa. In the
second stage, the amount of silver was exactly calculated based
on the volume fraction of porosity in the compact. This resulted
in complete infiltration of silver into kovar. Fig. 5 shows the
pictures taken after infiltration. Finally, near full density was at-
tained with the infiltration in both the cases (400 and 600 MPa)
without any shape distortion. This was also confirmed by mi-
crostructural studies of the top and bottom surfaces and axial
cross section.
3) Comilling and Liquid Phase Sintering: In addition to
liquid phase sintering, infiltration silvar alloys were also pro-
cessed by sintering comilled silver and kovar powders. Silver
and kovar powders were milled for 24 h in acetone and dried
at 1250 C for 6 h. Fig. 6 shows the effect of milling and
compaction pressure on both green as well as sintered density.
Milling resulted in flaky morphology (Fig. 2) and silver coating
on kovar. This kind of morphology is difficult to compact and
results in lower green densities [13]. However it is evident
form Fig. 6 that all alloys, despite lower green densities, re-
sulted in higher densities. There was a significant amount of
TAGORE et al.: PROCESSING OF SILVAR FOR MIC PACKAGING APPLICATIONS
Fig. 5. Photographs of silvar alloys infiltrated at 1150 C.
Fig. 6. Effect of compaction pressure and Ag content on the (a) green and sin-
tered density and (b) densification parameter of comilled kovar–Ag alloys.
shrinkage observed after sintering of these alloys at 1150 C.
This could be attributed to communition of particle size during
milling and more homogeneous Ag distribution, both of which
enhance sintereability. Ag coating on kovar makes the system
0 dihedral angle unless otherwise the kovar and Ag system is
assumed to be high dihedral angle. A similar kind of behavior
was observed in a W–Cu system.
B. Microstructures
Fig. 7 shows the optical microstructures of silvar alloys sin-
tered at various temperatures. It is evident that all microstruc-
tures are liquid phase sintered. It can also be seen that despite in-
creasing the sintering temperature, no change in the microstruc-
tures is discerned. This is because of negligible intersolubility
between the phases. In all micrographs, continuous network of
kovar is interspersed in the silver matrix. Kovar–35Ag alloys
show higher porosity as compared to lower Ag content. How-
ever, in all the cases, the pores are completely isolated from the
silver phase, which is due to the formation of highly contiguous
kovar network well before the liquid formation. The presumed
reason for high contiguity is the high dihedral angle between
kovar and silver systems.
Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis was carried
out on the sintered microstructure, grain (dark spot), and liquid
(colored phase) to determine the elemental distribution in each
phase. The composition of grain is the same as that of as-re-
ceived kovar powder, whereas the liquid phase composition cor-
responds to pure silver.
263
Fig. 7. Optical micrographs showing effect of sintering temperature on the mi-
crostructure of silvar alloys containing (a) 25%, and (b) 30% silver. All these
alloys were compacted at 600 MPa.
Fig. 8. Elemental mapping of kovar25Ag alloy. The alloy was prepared by
comixing and subsequently pressed at 600 MPa and sintered at 1150 C.
Fig. 9. Optical microstructures showing the effect of rolling on the microstruc-
ture of silvar alloys containing 25% silver. The alloy was rolled to 50% reduction
and annealed at 700 C.
Fig. 8 show the elemental distribution maps determined using
EDAX. As the kovar powder is in pre-alloyed condition, Fe, Ni,
and Co appears distributed homogeneously in kovar grains. The
presence of sliver is seen only in liquid phase.
As described earlier, sintered silvar alloys were rolled and
annealed to achieve full density. Fig. 9 shows the optical mi-
crostructures of kovar25Ag in sintered, rolled, and annealed
condition. It is clearly visible that kovar grains were elongated.
Furthermore, due to the rolling, the pores got closed, and it
also induces some residual stresses. After complete annealing,
stresses will relieve and grains regains their shape. However, in
the present study, the annealing temperature was insufficient to
cause recrystallizing.
264 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRONICS PACKAGING MANUFACTURING, VOL. 31, NO. 3, JULY 2008
Fig. 10. SEM micrograph of comilled kovar20Ag pressed at 400 MPa and sin-
tered at 1150 C.
Fig. 11. Optical microstructures of (a) top and (b) regions of kovar25Ag
pressed at 400 MPa (left) and kovar15Ag pressed at 600 MPa (right).
Fig. 10 shows the SEM micrograph of the comilled and
sintered kovar-20%Ag alloy. It is found that milling not only
resulted in densification enhancement but also significant (five
times) reduction in kovar grain size. As the milled powder
particle size was finer, the number of interparticle contacts in-
creases. In addition to this, the dihedral angle is also high. This
leads to the highly contiguous and connective network of kovar.
The extent of connectivity and contiguity is such that silver
phase is completely isolated from one another. This would af-
fect the conductivity of the alloy which relies on the continuity
of the conducting phase. Elemental mapping of the above alloy
was carried out to verify whether any alloying occurred during
milling. It is clearly observed that the elemental distribution is
similar to the liquid phase sintered alloys. Milling does not lead
to any compositional change in the phases.
Fig. 11 represents the optical microstructures of the top and
bottom surfaces of silvar alloys processed through the infiltra-
tion technique. In both (400 and 600 MPa) the cases, the mi-
crostructures look self similar. This attributes to the perfect in-
filtration. To reinforce the above statement, segregation studies
were carried throughout the axial cross-section. Except a few
areas, which would have formed in the earlier stage of com-
paction, there was no such kind of segregation. The microstruc-
tures were homogeneous all over the cross section.
Fig. 12. Variation of bulk hardness for various silvar alloys consolidated by
(a) pressing and sintering (600 MPa; 1150 C); rolling (50% reduction) and
subsequent annealing (700 C); 1 h) and (b) milling and infiltration.
Fig. 13. SEM microstructures of kovar30Ag (a) as sintered and (b) cold rolled
to 98% reduction.
C. Material Characterization
1) Bulk Hardness: Fig. 12(a) shows the hardness variation
of liquid phase sintered, cold worked and heat-treated silvar al-
loys. It is clear from the figure that rolling up to 50% reduc-
tion in thickness resulted in increasing hardness. Usually, cold
rolling results in work hardening of the material, and it also
induces stresses that contribute to hardness enhancement. An-
nealing at 700 C results in lowering of hardness, but it is still
higher as compared to the sintered alloy. Furthermore, 700 C
does not result in recrystallization of grains. This observed phe-
nomenon could be because of insufficient annealing tempera-
ture. Increasing the silver content resulted in lowering of bulk
hardness which is due to the soft nature of silver.
Fig. 12(b) shows the effect of milling and infiltration on
bulk hardness of silvar alloys. This is clear from the figure
that hardness of the milled and infiltrated alloys is higher than
their liquid phase sintered counterparts. Due to the higher
sintered density, infiltrated alloys exhibit higher hardness as
compared to the sintered alloys. In the case of infiltrated alloys,
due to the less silver content, compacts pressed at 600 MPa
(kovar15Ag) showed marginally higher hardness than those
pressed at 400 MPa (kovar25Ag). In spite of higher sinter
density, hardness of infiltrated alloys is inferior to comilled
alloys which have finer grain size.
2) Machinablility: Machinability is the important property
required for electronic packaging materials. Fig. 13 shows the
microstructures of silvar alloy. Fig. 13(a) and (b) represents the
TAGORE et al.: PROCESSING OF SILVAR FOR MIC PACKAGING APPLICATIONS
TABLE II
CTE AND THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY OF DIFFERENT SILVAR ALLOYS
kovar30Ag alloy in as-sintered and 98% cold rolled conditions,
respectively. Even after severe rolling, the slivar alloy shows no
evidence of crack or any defect, which confirms good ductility.
This can attribute to the good machinability. The final compo-
nent was machined without any difficulty.
3) CTE Measurement: The CTEs of these alloys were mea-
sured using a vertical pushrod dilatometer. Table II summarizes
the CTE values obtained by experiments and rule of mixtures. It
is evident from the table that CTE values of experimental results
are near to the values obtained by rule of mixtures. Elsewhere,
Rao et al. [3] proved that rule of mixtures is reliable for CTE of
Al-SiC composites. The observed variation is due to the pres-
ence of porosity in the sintered material.
4) Thermal Conductivity: Thermal conductivity of the silvar
alloys were not measured experimentally. However, using elec-
trical resistivity measurements, thermal conductivity was mea-
sured from Wiedemann Franz’s law [14]. The results obtained
are summarized in Table II. This table also contains the conduc-
tivity values predicted using rule of mixtures. Note that there
is significant deviation between the experimental and model
values. The observed deviation in the results could be due to
the presence of pores in the sintered parts which possibly con-
tributed to errors in measuring the resistance of these alloys.
V. CONCLUSION
For the first time, silvar alloys were consolidated through
P/M by premixing the kovar (Fe–Ni–Co) and Ag powder via
liquid phase sintering, infiltration, and liquid phase sintering of
comilled powders. The CTE values of these alloys were close to
the values predicted by rule of mixtures. In addition to the above,
none of the alloys resulted in macro-segregation of phases.
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Eluri Ravindranadh Tagore received the B.Tech.
degree from the National Institute of Technology,
Tiruchirappalli, India, and the M.Tech. degree from
the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. He is
currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree from Oregon
State University, Corvallis.
His areas of interest are powder metallurgy, corro-
sion, and microfluidic devices.
Anish Upadhyaya received the M.S. and Ph.D. de-
grees from The Pennsylvania State University, State
College.
He is currently an Associate Professor in the De-
partment of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering
at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. His
area of specialization is in powder metallurgical
processing of ferrous, nonferrous, and refractory
alloys with special emphasis on sintering.
Anand V. Pathak received the B.Eng. and M.Eng.
degrees in mechanical engineering from Gujarat Uni-
versity, Gujarat, India, and the Indian Institute of Sci-
ence, Bangalore, respectively.
He is currently a Project Manager with the Space
Applications Center, Indian Space Research Organ-
ization (ISRO), Ahmedabad, India, and is working
on INSAT and GSAT spacecraft payloads. He is re-
sponsible for design, development, and fabrication of
communication payloads. In the past, he had deliv-
ered various payloads for the Indian National Satel-
lite System (INSAT). Currently, he is interested in the development of new ma-
terials for MMIC technology.