Emma Solà, a PhD researcher in the Power Devices and Systems (PDS) Group at the Institute of Microelectronics of Barcelona (IMB-CNM, CSIC), completed a research stay at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft, The Netherlands) and Boschman Advanced Packaging Technology (Duiven, The Netherlands). The one-month stay, carried out in May 2026, was funded through a Santander Open Academy grant managed through FGCSIC, which financially support research stays at universities, research centres, scientific infrastructures, and other international institutions in order to promote international mobility and scientific development of predoctoral researchers.

The main motivation of the stay was therefore to strengthen and complement Emma Solà’s expertise in advanced packaging technologies for power electronics, which constitute the core of her doctoral research. In particular, the visit focused on gaining hands-on experience with a novel interconnection material and its associated processes, namely copper sintering, promising technology for next-generation power modules due to its excellent thermal conductivity and high-current capability. Furthermore, the stay aimed to deepen her knowledge in reliability assessment methodologies for power electronic systems. Both aspects contribute to improve the performance and lifetime of power modules, which directly translate into improving the efficiency and impact of leading edge fields such as AI data centres, electric mobility and industrial electrification, among others. Indeed, power electronics is widely recognized as a key enabling technology for the global energy transition and, consequently, for the decarbonisation of modern society.
Concerning the first part of the stay at TU Delft, Solà joined the Electronic Components, Technology and Materials (ECTM) group under the supervision of Willem van Driel. During this stage, she collaborated with researchers working on the reliability assessment of advanced packaging structures and materials integration for high-performance power electronics, such as Dr. Jiajie Fan.
The second part of the stay took place at the facilities of Boschman Advanced Packaging Technology under the supervision of Emiel de Bruin. Boschman is an international leader in die-bonding and advanced packaging equipment for the semiconductor industry, providing state-of-the-art industrial solutions for power electronics manufacturing. Emma Solà claims that working in this industrial environment allowed her to gain first-hand experience with state-of-the-art packaging processes and manufacturing technologies, which complements her research activities carried out at IMB-CNM. The experimental work involved the attachment of SiC MOSFETs to ceramic substrates using copper particles sintering, one of the hottest research topics in power systems integration at present.