Aluminum-oxynitride-based advanced packaging, thermal management, and passivation coating

Aluminum Oxynitride (AlON) is a dielectric material that offers significant advantages for packaging of space-based electronics over other commonly used materials such as ceramics. When combined with modern, novel deposition methods, AlON thin films atomically bond directly to substrate materials (Cu, Al, etc.) with near 100% defect-free density. In this work, ALON based dielectric / Cu based packaging substrates were produced showing significant enhancements in voltage standoff, thermal conductivity, and lifespan versus more commonly used substrate materials. ALON, as the next generation packaging board substrates, has shown the first steps to fundamentally change the capabilities of in-space electronics to meet the needs of the most demanding applications.