Reference Number: ARL-SRP-00083

Project Description

Vision and Motivation
As the global transition toward electrification, autonomous systems, and data-intensive artificial intelligence accelerates, the performance boundaries of modern electronic devices are increasingly defined not by the silicon switch alone, but by the packaging architecture that encloses it. Contemporary applications demand the simultaneous co-existence of high-voltage (HV), high-power density, high-frequency, and optical routing within tightly integrated modules. Conventional packaging solutions—traditionally siloed into separate electrical, thermal, and optical domains—suffer from catastrophic bottlenecks, including parasitic inductances, thermal runaways, signal attenuation, and optical misalignment.
The vision of this research program is to pioneer a unified, multi-physics framework for advanced electronic packaging that seamlessly integrates high-voltage insulation, high-power thermal management, high-frequency signal integrity, and potentially co-packaged optics. By replacing traditional packaging paradigms with advanced materials, 3D heterogenous integration, and holistic co-design methodologies, this research will unlock unprecedented power densities, operational speeds, and reliability for next-generation power electronics, aerospace systems, and data-center optical interconnects.

Core Research Objectives
High-Voltage and High-Power Thermal-Mechanical Co-Design:
Develop advanced wide-bandgap (e.g., SiC or GaN) power module packaging utilizing high-thermal-conductivity ceramics and active double-sided liquid cooling.
Investigate novel high-dielectric-strength encapsulants and partial-discharge-resistant insulation materials to suppress electric field concentrations and prevent breakdown under extreme high-voltage transient regimes. Compare traditional methods vs. additive manufacturing methods.
Investigate methods for die attach and wire-bonding techniques for newly developed high-voltage devices (e.g. MOSFETS, IGBTs, diodes).
Computer-Aided Design (CAD) electronic packaging layout utilizing co-engineering/co-design methods.
Develop high-voltage, high-power, high-frequency, and optical instrumentation techniques (sometimes outside of their intended mode of operation) to validate and quantify success of packaging exercise.

Methodological Approach
Advanced Simulation & Co-Design: Employ a suite of Electronic Design Automation (EDA) and multi-physics tools to co-optimize electrical, thermal, and mechanical signal paths concurrently.
Cleanroom Fabrication & Packaging Prototyping: Utilize advanced manufacturing processes—including active metal braze (AMB) substrates, direct bonded copper (DBC), low-temperature co-fired ceramics (LTCC), wafer-level hybrid bonding, and potentially precision laser alignment for photonics.
Extreme-Environment Characterization: Subject fabricated modules to rigorous multi-stress testbeds, combining high-voltage partial discharge testing, high-frequency network analyzer measurements, thermal cycling (-55°C to 175°C), and high-power operational burn-in to validate long-term reliability and failure mechanisms.

Broader Impacts and Applications
The realization of this multi-domain advanced packaging framework will catalyze breakthroughs across critical infrastructure sectors:

• Next-Generation Electric Mobility, medical devices, and Renewable Energy, : Enabling high-voltage, high-frequency SiC power modules for next-gen electric vehicle (EV) traction inverters, ultra-compact medical devices, and smart-grid solid-state transformers with drastically reduced volume and weight.
• Hyperscale Data Centers & AI Clusters: Deploying ultra-high-bandwidth, power-efficient optical engines and co-packaged optics that slash data center energy consumption and latency.
• Aerospace & Defense Systems: Delivering compact, radiation-hardened, and thermally robust RF/microwave and power electronics capable of surviving extreme environments.

Technical Skills

• Aerospace Engineering
• Chemical Sciences/Engineering
• Computer Modeling/Simulation
• Electrical Engineering
• Electronics
• Materials Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering
• Rapid Prototyping/Additive Manufacturing
• SolidWorks knowledge preferred, but not required