Habenicht, Soenke, Funke, H. J., Gruber, D., Oelgeschläger, D., Schumacher, O., Gehn, R., Walczyk, S., Mavinkurve, A., Reiners, Th., Fiederling, R., Vogl, M., Schug, J., Willwohl, H., Blandin, J., Hutter, M., Ehrhardt, C., and Oppermann, H.
Due to superior properties in energy efficiency and design freedom, the "liberation of light" by LED-technology will draw more attention in future applications. Within the European SEEL (solution for energy efficient lighting) project, the partners are performing research in enabling technologies for high-temperature electronics (up to 185°C) to be designed into the next generation of high-efficient LED-driver circuits. This requires high-temperature evaluation of the product architecture of electronic components, i.e., the 1st-level interconnection, i.e., the chip metallization and the chip bonding technology. Different methods such as Au- and Cu-wire bonding as well as soft-soldering technologies are evaluated and discussed. The material properties, i.e., the encapsulating mound compound and the die adhesives play an important role as these materials tend to degrade at elevated temperatures. On top of that, the board mounting architecture of the products, i.e., the board materials and the interconnection techniques such as high-temperature soldering, also play an important role and have to be discussed during the architecture evaluation, as solder joints and board materials are prominent candidates for mechanical degradation during high-temperature treatment. Thermal aspects in the circuit design in order to prevent part of the system architecture from overheating during operation play an important role in the system design. The current status of the project as well as the future exploitation outlook will be presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]