Estimation of Adhesive Strength and Thermal Cycling Lifetime with MD Simulation and FEA for Die-Attach Sintering Paste (Cu, Ag)

Die-attach sintering pastes (Cu, Ag) are promising joint materials for power devices operating at higher temperatures. Predicting key properties like adhesive strength and lifetime under thermal stress (e.g., thermal cycling tests (TCT) and thermal shock tests (TST)) aids in device advancement. This study employs molecular dynamics (MD) simulations for adhesive strength estimation and finite-element analysis (FEA) for TCT lifetime prediction. A correlation between the experimental adhesive strength and the ratio of intrinsic diffusion coefficients calculated from the MD simulations was found. Additionally, the estimated lifetime values from FEA correspond to the experimental trends observed in the thermal cyclic stress tests.