Aluminum Oxide

Aluminum oxide, Al2O3, commonly referred to as alumina, is by far the most common substrate material used in the microelectronics industry because it is superior to most other
oxide ceramics in mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties. The raw materials are
plentiful, low in cost, and amenable to fabrication by a wide variety of techniques into a
wide variety of shapes.
Alumina is hexagonal close-packed with a corundum structure. Several metastable
structures exist, but they all ultimately irreversibly transform to the hexagonal alpha phase.
Alumina is stable in both oxidizing and reducing atmospheres up to1925C. Weight loss
in vacuum over the temperature range 1700C to 2000C ranges from 107 to 106 g/(cm2 s).

It is resistant to attack by all gases except wet fluorine to at least 1700C. Alumina is
attacked at elevated temperatures by alkali metal vapors and halogen acids, especially the
lower-purity alumina compositions that may contain a percentage of glasses.
Alumina is used extensively in the microelectronics industry as a substrate material for
thick- and thin-film circuits, for circuit packages, and as multilayer structures for multichip
modules. Compositions exist for both high- and low-temperature processing. High temperature cofired ceramics (HTCC) use a refractory metal, such as tungsten or molybdenum/
manganese, as a conductor and fire at about 1800C. The circuits are formed as separate
layers, laminated together, and fired as a unit. Low temperature cofired ceramics (LTCC)
use conventional gold or palladium silver as conductors and fire as low as 850C. Certain
power MOSFETs and bipolar transistors are mounted on alumina substrates, which act as
electrical insulators and thermal conductors.
The parameters of alumina are summarized in Table 4.11.

4.8.2 Beryllium Oxide

Beryllium oxide (BeO, beryllia) is cubic close-packed and has a zinc blend structure. The
alpha form of BeO is stable to above 2050C. BeO is stable in dry atmospheres and is inert
to most materials. It hydrolyzes at temperatures greater than 1100C with the formation and
volatilization of beryllium hydroxide. BeO reacts with graphite at high temperature, forming beryllium carbide.
Beryllia has an extremely high thermal conductivity, higher than aluminum metal, and
is widely used in applications where this parameter is critical. The thermal conductivity
drops rapidly above 300C, but is suitable for most practical applications.
Beryllia is available in a wide variety of geometries formed by a variety of fabrication
techniques. While beryllia in the pure form is perfectly safe, care must be taken when
machining BeO, as the dust is toxic if inhaled.
Beryllia may be metallized with thick film or thin film, or by one of the copper processes. However, thick-film pastes must be specially formulated to be compatible. Laser
or abrasive trimming of BeO must be performed in a vacuum to remove the dust.
The properties of 99.5 percent beryllia are summarized in Table 4.12.

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