Development of a novel direct metallisation process for Cambridge Nanotherm's nanoceramic-Aluminium substrate in order to create a unique highly thermally efficient substrate material for the global electronics industry

全球近五分之一的电力用于照明，每年产生约19亿吨二氧化碳。高亮度发光二极管（HBLED）是全球公认的高效、持久和多功能光源，在未来照明能源需求中改善环境和经济性能的目标方面具有重大前景。虽然技术进步提高了HBLED照明系统的效率，目前，只有25%的功率被转化为可见光，其余75%的功率产生的热量通过安装LED的基板消散。如果没有有效的热管理，LED芯片内温度的升高会导致效率、可靠性和LED寿命的下降，这被认为是导致故障的主要原因。剑桥Nanotherm（CNL）开发了一种高度创新的纳米陶瓷铝基板，并获得了专利，以满足HBLED内高效热管理的需求。尽管CNL的基板在降低热阻和LED工作温度方面取得了重大突破，但仍有很大的效率提升空间。这些收益是有限的，其原因在于使用环氧树脂粘合剂层用于连接导体层到纳米陶瓷基板。本项目旨在探索直接金属化工艺的技术可行性，将导体层直接应用到其独特的纳米陶瓷基板上，以创造一种用于电子工业的高热效率基板材料。CNL相信，直接金属化的使用将使他们能够提供突破性的75%的热阻降低，并将工作温度提高到c.400°C，成本显著低于目前的市场产品。该项目将在实验室规模上证明这一工艺，如果成功，预生产原型和规模将在2016年进入市场。

Almost 1/5th of global electricity is used for lighting, accounting for c.1.9bn tons of CO2 pa.High Brightness Light Emitting Diodes (HBLEDs) are globally recognised as a highlyefficient, long lasting & versatile light source, offering significant promise in the target ofimproved environmental & economic performance within the future energy demands forlighting.Whilst technological advancements have improved the efficiency of HBLED lightingsystems, currently only 25% of the power utilised is converted into visible light, with theremaining 75% generating heat that is dissipated through the substrate on which the LED ismounted. Without efficient thermal management, increased temperature within LED chipsleads to a drop in efficiency, reliability & LED lifespan & is recognized as the main cause offailure.Cambridge Nanotherm (CNL) has developed & patented a highly innovative nanoceramicaluminiumsubstrate to addresses the demand for efficient thermal management withinHBLEDs. Despite the significant breakthroughs that CNL’s substrate has made in thereduction of thermal resistance and LED working temperatures, there is scope for much largerefficiency gains. These gains are restricted, the cause of which lies in the use of epoxy resinadhesive layer used to connect the conductor layer to the nanoceramic substrate.This project seeks to explore the technical feasibility of a direct metallisation process to applythe conductor layer directly to their unique nanoceramic substrate in order to create a highlythermally efficient substrate material for the electronics industry. CNL believe the use ofdirect metallisation will allow them to offer a breakthrough 75% reduction in thermalresistance and increase operating temperatures to c.400°C, at a significantly lower cost thanthe current market offering.The project will prove this process at bench-scale & if successful, pre-production prototyping& scale up will ensue with expected market entry in 2016.