Effect of thick-film materials on the mechanical integrity of high-strength ceramic substrates
Recently, high-strength zirconia-toughened alumina (ZTA) ceramic substrates have attracted interest, because they offer much improved mechanical properties over straight alumina, while maintaining advantages such as good thermal conductivity and chemical stability. This allows their application in high-power electronics and piezoresistive thick-film sensors, where the substrate is subjected to considerable stress. This work examines the impact of processing a range of thick film materials (Ag- and Au-based conductors, and a resistor material widely used in piezoresistive sensors) on the short- and long-term strength of ZTA, as compared to the standard 96% alumina used in thick-film electronics. It is found that many layers substantially reduce the substrate strength, especially in the long term, which is related to enhanced crack growth in the presence of glassy layers. These findings have pronounced implications in piezoresistive sensor design. Key words: piezoresistive, sensors, force, pressure, ZTA, strength, thick-film.
2005 Maeder EMPC-IMAPS Bruges - fatigue statique Al2O3 & ZTA.pdf
Preprint
restricted
472.2 KB
Adobe PDF
a442297d549d0794d02e3e97f20d333a
2005 Maeder IMAPS EMPC strength ZTA P.pdf
openaccess
1.67 MB
Adobe PDF
c7d966b0fc2cd1a8744bc0c5c0875df6