Adress : 60, Boulevard Saint Michel, Paris (RER B Station Luxembourg)

Abstract : Most of usual electronic devices operate in environments where the amplitude of temperature changes is limited. The use of electronic equipment operating in harsh environments in aircrafts could however improve their performances, especially their weight, their gas consumption and their cost of maintenance. Unfortunately the use of classical electronic assembly technologies in environments where wide amplitude thermal variations take place raises major technical issues: the high temperatures reached in some parts of aircrafts can melt usual brazing materials and thermomechanical fatigue can induce early failure of the assemblies. To prevent these problems from happening, electronic components can be attached using silver sintering. One of the strengths of this technology is that it allows the replacement of traditional brazing material by a high melting point material: pure silver (Tm=962°C). Silver sintering nevertheless leads to a porous material and porosity can have a negative impact on the ageing of the attachment joints of electronic components. One of the goals of this PhD thesis is therefore to study the link between the sintering temperature profile and the porosity of silver. Furthermore the impact of different rates of porosity on the mechanical behavior of silver has been assessed. These investigations have mainly been focused on the fatigue behavior of porous silver electrical junctions under thermal cycling (-65°C/+200 °C). The question of the metallurgical interactions that may exist at high temperatures between silver and some of the usual metallization of components and/or substrates has lastly been addressed.