Wafer-Scale PBF-LB/M of SnAg3 as Thermal Interface Materials for Advanced High-Power Electronics Cooling

Wafer-Scale PBF-LB/M of SnAg3 as Thermal Interface Materials for Advanced High-Power Electronics Cooling | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Wafer-Scale PBF-LB/M of SnAg3 as Thermal Interface Materials for Advanced High-Power Electronics Cooling Andrea Mistrini, Amin Hodaei, Martina Meisnar, Davoud Jafari, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7039264/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 12 Feb, 2026 Read the published version in Progress in Additive Manufacturing → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract To support the miniaturization of electronics with increasing power, advanced cooling strategies are needed. Unlike conventional cooling pathways for wafer-scale electronics that involve the use of thermal pastes, we introduce an additive manufacturing route using laser powder bed fusion (PBF-LB/M) to fabricate 50–200 µm thick SnAg3 deposits that function as thermal interfaces between the Si substrate and the heat exchanger. The results reveal that by fine tuning the PBF-LB/M process parameters, it is possible to engineer the microstructure of the printed thermal interface materials onto Si wafer and to limit the Si damage. These findings demonstrate a promising solution for wafer-scale additive manufacturing of advanced cooling architectures, enabling the fabrication of high-powder electronics. Wafer-Scale Electronics Additive Manufacturing on Silicon Laser Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB/M) Solder-Based Thermal Interface Materials Direct Metal Printing for Electronics Cooling. Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 12 Feb, 2026 Read the published version in Progress in Additive Manufacturing → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7039264","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":492236926,"identity":"8f2d86b7-9177-4561-a8fd-e911f5509bce","order_by":0,"name":"Andrea Mistrini","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Politecnico di Milano","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Andrea","middleName":"","lastName":"Mistrini","suffix":""},{"id":492236927,"identity":"3331c228-a611-403b-a75c-2faa57e1ba47","order_by":1,"name":"Amin Hodaei","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Twente","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Amin","middleName":"","lastName":"Hodaei","suffix":""},{"id":492236928,"identity":"c71ac196-325d-4d68-bba0-29d8b5e9673a","order_by":2,"name":"Martina Meisnar","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"European Space Agency","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Martina","middleName":"","lastName":"Meisnar","suffix":""},{"id":492236929,"identity":"dce0944b-84d9-4f0e-b9d7-2c86c321ea42","order_by":3,"name":"Davoud Jafari","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Twente","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Davoud","middleName":"","lastName":"Jafari","suffix":""},{"id":492236930,"identity":"ddf21148-5e52-415a-a00f-0365e0e2e175","order_by":4,"name":"Riccardo casati","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA+ElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACZiQSCCTkQOSBB8RrSZAwBmtJINYuoBaGxAYIjRuYtzM//PBzj7UcA/vhxx9+/rBInx92+CHQFjs53QbsWmQOsxlL9jxLN2bgSTOT7EmQyN14O80AqCXZ2OwAdi0SzDxsDDwHDic2SDCYMfCAtMxOAGk5kLgNjxbGP2At7J8//kmQSDecnf6BoBZmiC08BtJAWxLkpXMI2cJmLC1zIN2YjSenTFomTcJwg3ROwYEEAzx+4T/88OObA9Zy/OzHN398Y1MnLz87ffOHDxV2cri0wAEbjGEAVmlAQDkKkG8gRfUoGAWjYBSMBAAAUXJV3y4v2b8AAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"Politecnico di Milano","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Riccardo","middleName":"","lastName":"casati","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-07-03 14:38:12","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7039264/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7039264/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s40964-026-01528-8","type":"published","date":"2026-02-12T15:57:52+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":102785460,"identity":"35da14e2-eade-4e39-816d-b4451a89fc15","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-02-16 16:07:01","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1262940,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"PAPER1COMETFINALVERSIONAnonym.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7039264/v1_covered_7f21eb90-5991-43ab-922d-22351dad6030.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Wafer-Scale PBF-LB/M of SnAg3 as Thermal Interface Materials for Advanced High-Power Electronics Cooling","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Wafer-Scale Electronics, Additive Manufacturing on Silicon, Laser Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB/M), Solder-Based Thermal Interface Materials, Direct Metal Printing for Electronics Cooling.","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7039264/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7039264/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eTo support the miniaturization of electronics with increasing power, advanced cooling strategies are needed. Unlike conventional cooling pathways for wafer-scale electronics that involve the use of thermal pastes, we introduce an additive manufacturing route using laser powder bed fusion (PBF-LB/M) to fabricate 50\u0026ndash;200 \u0026micro;m thick SnAg3 deposits that function as thermal interfaces between the Si substrate and the heat exchanger. The results reveal that by fine tuning the PBF-LB/M process parameters, it is possible to engineer the microstructure of the printed thermal interface materials onto Si wafer and to limit the Si damage. 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