Adjustable thermal expansion in La(Fe, Si)13-based conductive composites by high-pressure synthesis

Providing a suitable contact interface, where a high conductivity material with a desirable coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) adjoins the target micro-electric devices, is very crucial to optimize the properties and service life of the relevant instruments. Regrettably, a high conductivity, low thermal expansion and relatively inexpensive material is very rare. Composites, fortunately, can offer a method to design materials with adjustable properties by mixing two or more diverse constituents. In this paper, high conductivity composites with adjustable thermal expansion were successfully prepared by a high-pressure synthesis. The composites are based on combining La(Fe,Si)13-based compounds, the materials showing a giant, isotropic negative thermal expansion (NTE) properties, within Cu matrix. The La(Fe,Si)13-based compounds were used to adjust the CTE of the composites, while the Cu phase is in charge of tuning the thermal conductivity properties. Thus, by changing the relative amount of the two components, the composites with high conductivities and adjustable CTE were achieved. Furthermore, the thermal expansion and magnetic properties of the composites were investigated by a physical property measurement system. The present results highlight the potential applications of the Cu-based high conductivity composites with room-temperature NTE properties in the thermal contacts to various semiconductor and microelectronic devices. Keywords: La(Fe, Si)13-based compounds, Metal-matrix composites, Negative thermal expansio