Alumina Ceramic Substrates, Aluminum Nitride Lapping Services, AIN Wafers
Ceramic Substrates of Aluminum Nitride and Alumina
Valley Design specializes in processing Ceramic substrates for microelectronic, thermal management and other critical applications. Aluminum nitride and alumina substrates can be lapped, polished, diced, grooved, drilled and shaped to any specification.
Original surfaces of these tape cast, as-fired substrates vary in surface finish from 2 microinches Ra for 99.6% thin film substrates to over 30 microinches Ra for 96% thick film and Aluminum Nitride substrates. Lapping and polishing dramatically improve the as-fired surfaces of Ceramic materials as well as the flatness and thickness tolerances. Holes, chamfers, grooves and other machining can shape the product to meet customer requirements.
Aluminum Nitride Ceramic substrates have outstanding thermal properties. These nontoxic substrates also offer good electrical, mechanical and chemical properties making them ideal for high power semiconductor applications. AlN is a good choice for high performance chip carrier applications and for both large and high power die.
- Valley Design’s lapping process will produce good surface finishes and meet any flatness and thickness requirements.
- Our polishing service will give surface finishes as good as 1 microinch Ra and flatness specification measurable in light band range.
- Thinning to only a few thousandths of an inch thick will give maximum thermal management benefits for devices like ignition modules, power transistors, solid state relays and motor controllers.
- For more information on Aluminum Nitride as-fired, lapped, or polished substrates from stock or custom made, go to
https://valleydesign.com/aluminum-nitride/.
- 99.6% Aluminum oxide substrates are most often used in thin film applications and are commonly referred to as thin film Ceramic substrates. In the as-fired condition, flatness, surface imperfections, thickness tolerances and surface finish may not meet required conditions for sensitive applications.
- Lapping provides the desired flatness and thickness tolerance, with a surface finish typically in the 8 to 12 microinch range.
- Polishing will make the surface defect-free and improve the finish to 0.5 microinch with good flatness and thickness tolerances.
- Thinning can bring the substrate thickness down to 0.001″ with either a lapped or polished finish.
- 96% Aluminum oxide substrates, known also as thick film substrates, have similar thickness and flatness characteristics as 99.6% Alumina in the as-fired state. However, the surface finish for 96% Alumina may be as rough as 30 microinches.
- Our lapping process will give any desired thickness tolerance and good flatness. The thicker the finished substrate, the better flatness we can achieve.
- Most thick film applications do not require polished substrates. 96% Alumina can be polished, although not as highly as 99.6% Alumina.
- Thinning produces parts as thin as 0.002″. Thin substrates are an excellent material for thick film chip capacitors. 4″ x 4″ plates can be routinely lapped to a thickness of 0.0035″ to 0.004″ with a surface finish of 15 to 20 microinches Ra.
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