Growth of intermetallic compound between indium-based thermal interface material and copper substrate: molecular dynamics simulations

The diffusion phenomenon occurring between copper and indium was investigated by molecular dynamics simulations. The calculations were carried out in various temperatures in aging domain with the use of the commercially available Materials Studio v.6. software. The results showed that the intermetallic compound (IMC) growth followed the parabolic law, which indicated this growth to be mainly controlled by volume diffusion. The growth activation energy was estimated at 7.48 kJ · mol^-1.