Effect of sintering temperatures on properties of BaO–B2O3–SiO2–Al2O3 glass/silica composites for CBGA package

BaO–B2O3–SiO2–Al2O3 (BBSA) glass/silica composites synthesized by solid-state reaction method were developed for CBGA packages, and the effects of sintering temperature (900–950 °C) on the phase transformation, microstructure, thermal, mechanical and electrical properties were investigated. XRD results show that the major phases quartz and cristobalite, and the minor phase BaSi2O5 are detected in BBSA composites. Furthermore, it was found that the quartz phase transforms to cristobalite phase at 930–940 °C. The formation of cristobalite phase with higher coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) led to the increase of CTE value of BBSA composites. However, excessive cristobalite phase content would degrade the mechanical properties and the linearity of thermal expansion of the ceramics. BBSA composites sintered at 920 °C exhibited excellent properties: low dielectric constant and loss (εr = 6.2, tanδ = 10−4 at 1 MHz), high bending strength (179 MPa), high CTE (12.19 ppm/°C) as well as superior linearity of the thermal expansion.