Gallium‐Based Liquid‐Metal Alloys: Challenges and Risk Management in High‐Humidity Environments

Abstract

Gallium‐based liquid‐metal (LM) alloys, due to their high electrical and thermal conductivity, find many applications in the semiconductor industry. Despite the promise to disrupt existing markets or enable new ones, there is little information in the area of intrinsic reliability risks. In this article, key risks for successfully enabling gallium‐based LM alloys in high temperature and high‐humidity conditions are focused on. All gallium‐based alloys are expected to be susceptible to this risk, but the failure probability can be modulated by the alloy formulation, the way it is packaged and expected use condition. In this article, the risk for two markets, thermals, and interconnects is explored, by varying humidity and temperature stress conditions to establish life degradation models. In addition, in this article, possible solutions to mitigate the risk in extreme use conditions are discussed.