Comprehensive Review of Sintered Silver Porous Structures and Their Thermal Aging for Power Device Packaging

Wide band gap (WBG) devices, using sintered silver (s-Ag) for die attachment are attracting increasing interest due to silver's excellent properties and its ability to operate at high temperatures. However, the sintering process results in a porous structure whose evolution during thermal aging is known to degrade the material's properties. This review article presents the conventional silver sintering process, critically analyzes the resulting porous microstructures based on various approaches, and examines the impact of thermal aging on microstructural evolution. It highlights the challenges associated with controlling this microstructure and offers perspectives for future research directions. Keywords: Die-attach reliability, microstructural evolution, sintered Silver, thermal aging