The
rapid development of third-generation semiconductor power devices
has been driving the requirement for high-temperature stable molding
compounds. In this study, three kinds of phthalonitrile-etherified
phenolic resins (PNP) with different degrees of etherification were
prepared from linear phenolic resin and 4-nitrophthalonitrile by a
facile one-pot method. Subsequently, a new electronic packaging molding
compound (PEM) was prepared according to the processing method of
traditional epoxy molding compounds (EMC), based on the resin blends
of the PNP with a 50% etherification and polyfunctional epoxy resin
as the resin matrix and triphenylphosphine employed as the curing
accelerator. The reaction of the epoxy groups with both the phenol
hydroxyl and cyano groups endowed the resin matrix with a high curing
activity, thus making the molding process of PEM be compatible with
that of EMC. The cured products of PEM showed a much superior thermal
performance to that of EMC. For the cured PEM, the glass transition
temperature (T
g) was up to 300 °C
and the coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE) decreased significantly
in comparison to EMC, due to the generated rigid structures of oxazoline,
isoindoline, triazine, and phthalocyanine, as well as the high cross-linking
density. It is worth noting that the cured PEM could achieve a V-0
rating in the UL-94 vertical burning test without the addition of
any flame retardants, demonstrating its remarkable intrinsic flame
retardancy. Moreover, the cured PEM also exhibited good dielectric
properties, thermal conductivity, high temperature aging resistance,
and flexural performance at both room temperature and 200 °C.
In sum, a promising strategy for the preparation of electronic packaging
molding compounds with high T
g, low CTE,
and intrinsic flame retardancy was provided.