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Recent advances in the development of high gauge factor thin-films for strain gauges prompt the research on advanced substrate materials. A glass ceramic composite has been developed in consideration of a high coefficient of thermal expansion and a low modulus of elasticity for the application as support material for thin-film sensors. Constantan foil strain gauges were fabricated from this material by tape casting, pressure-assisted sintering and subsequent lamination of the metal foil on the planar ceramic substrates. The sensors were mounted on a strain gauge beam arrangement and load curves and creep behavior were evaluated. The accuracy of the assembled load cells correspond to accuracy class C6. That qualifies the load cells for the use in automatic packaging units and confirms the applicability of the LTCC substrates for fabrication of accurate strain gauges. To facilitate the deposition of thin film sensor structures onto the LTCC substrates, the pressure-assisted sintering technology has been refined. By the use of smooth setters instead of release tapes substrates with minimal surface roughness were fabricated. Metallic thin films deposited on these substrates exhibit low surface resistances comparable to thin films on commercial alumina thin-film substrates. The presented advances in material design and manufacturing technology are important to promote the development of high performance thin-film strain gauges.
A novel process to structure the surfaces of low temperature co-fired ceramics (LTCC) is presented. Lowered and raised structures are formed by hot-embossing with glass-like carbon molds during pressure-assisted sintering. Molding is driven by viscous flow of the LTCC glassy phase above the glass transition temperature. For accurate molding of embossments on the LTCC surface, proper filling of cavities in the glass-like carbon mold is necessary. Therefore, de-airing of the mold cavity has to be assured. Two strategies have been investigated: (i) hot-embossing at 850 °C after termination of LTCC shrinkage with de-airing through vent holes in the mold; and (ii) hot-embossing of open porous LTCC at 775 °C with dense molds, de-airing through pore channels in the LTCC, and subsequent densification by further heating to 850 °C. Circular embossments with 10 mm diameter were molded on a commercially available LTCC (Ceramtape GC, CeramTec GmbH, Marktredwitz, Germany). The sintered height was measured using optical profilometry. Image processing was used to evaluate porosity distributions in the sintered structures. The influence of embossing temperature on LTCC viscosity and mold filling behavior is discussed. Successful molding of 47 µm high raised grids and characters by hot embossing with 0.41 MPa at 775 °C and further heating to 850 °C under constant load is demonstrated. Thereby, the high potential of hot-embossing for precise structuring of LTCC surfaces is illustrated.
In this work, the effect of the pressure-assisted sintering process on buried thick film resistors integrated in LTCC multilayer has been studied. Four commercial resistor pastes with sheet resistivities between 10 kΩ and 10 MΩ/cm were analyzed. First they were characterized by SEM/EDX, XRD and Laser diffraction to determine composition and particle distribution. The pastes consist of isolating particles and of Ruthenium based particles that are supposed to build the conductive phase. The pastes were screen printed on LTCC green tape (DP 951) and buried in four layer laminates. Sintering was done in two ways, pressureless (PLS) and also pressure-assisted (PAS). The pressureless sintered resistors showed electrical resistance values roughly in the range of the nominal sheet resistivity and only relatively small fluctuation within one sample. The PAS samples on the other hand showed significantly higher resistances and larger deviations. The microstructure of the sintered resistors was again investigated by SEM and XRD. It seems that the resistivity is determined by the ratio of the two Ruthenium phases RuO2 and Pb2Ru2O6.5, where RuO2 has the higher conductivity. Buried resistors cannot be trimmed by a laser to adjust the resistance. But we discovered that a refiring step will reduce and normalize the resistivity of the PAS resistors significantly.
Calcium cobaltite (Ca3Co4O9) is considered as one of the most promising thermoelectric p-type oxides for energy harvesting applications at temperatures above 500 °C. It is challenging to sinter this material as its stability is limited to 920 °C. To facilitate a practicable and scalable production of Ca3Co4O9 for multilayer generators, a systematic study of the influence of powder calcination, Bi-doping, reaction sintering, and pressure-assisted sintering (PAS) on microstructure and thermoelectric properties is presented. Batches of doped, undoped, calcined, and not calcined powders were prepared, tape-cast, and sintered with and without uniaxial pressure at 900 °C. The resulting phase compositions, microstructures and thermoelectric properties were analysed. It is shown that the beneficial effect of Bi-doping observed on pressureless sintered samples cannot be transferred to PAS. Liquid phase formation induces distortions and abnormal grain growth. Although the Seebeck coefficient is increased to 139 µV/K by Bi-doping, the power factor is low due to poor electrical conductivity. The best results were achieved by PAS of calcined powder. The dense and textured microstructure exhibits a high power factor of 326 µW/mK² at 800 °C but adversely high thermal conductivity in the relevant direction. The figure of merit is higher than 0.08 at 700 °C.