SILICON CARBIDE ADVANCED PACKAGING OF POWER SEMICONDUCTORS II | W911NF17S0003 SCAPOPS

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The SILICON CARBIDE ADVANCED PACKAGING OF POWER SEMICONDUCTORS II (SiC APPS II) opportunity is a U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) applied research solicitation, released through the U.S. Army Contracting Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground (Research Triangle Park Division) for ARL's Sensors and Electron Devices Directorate (SEDD). It sits under ARL's core Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for Basic and Applied Scientific Research (W911NF-17-S-0003), within the "Sciences for Maneuver" campaign area and specifically the thrust focused on advanced electrical power technologies and components, with emphasis on power electronics packaging. The central purpose is to push beyond the current state of the art in multi-die power semiconductor packaging for high-power modules, because packaging has become a major bottleneck preventing silicon carbide (SiC) devices from reaching their full performance potential in real systems.

Technically, the program is motivated by the rapid maturation of wide bandgap semiconductors, especially SiC, which can deliver substantially higher power density and higher efficiency than traditional silicon power devices. While SiC devices can switch faster and operate at higher temperatures and voltages, conventional packaging methods often limit system-level gains due to issues like parasitic inductance, insufficient heat removal, and reliability weak points (for example wirebonds, direct bonded copper substrates, and large-area contacts). The Army is looking for disruptive packaging concepts and module architectures that address these constraints in a meaningful, measurable way, with an emphasis on designs that can actually be demonstrated and not just analyzed on paper.

A defining feature of this solicitation is the requirement for a holistic, multiphysics approach to power module development. Proposals are expected to treat electrical, thermal, and thermomechanical challenges as coupled problems rather than isolated design tasks. On the electrical side, the Army highlights concerns that become more pronounced as SiC enables faster switching and higher voltages, such as high dv/dt capability, partial discharge risk, electromagnetic interference (EMI), common-mode currents driven by parasitic capacitance, inductance management, Miller capacitance effects, and the design of robust internal and external interconnects. On the thermal side, they call out heat dissipation and spreading, transient thermal absorption, package thermal resistance, and practical thermal interfaces to heat sinks or cold plates. On the thermomechanical side, they emphasize the need for compliant interface materials, coefficient of thermal expansion matching across dissimilar materials, and durability under thermal and power cycling. The voltage application space explicitly spans low voltage (roughly 600 V to 3.3 kV), medium voltage (3.3 kV to 10 kV), and high voltage (10 kV to 24 kV) use cases, reflecting both military and commercial relevance.

From a solution standpoint, the Army is looking for innovative packaging solutions that combine multiple elements into a coherent module concept. A competitive proposal could include new design processes and simulation-driven optimization, novel package configurations (including planar or otherwise nontraditional geometries), advanced thermal management strategies, advanced or additive manufacturing approaches instead of standard subtractive methods, novel materials and interconnects, integrated electrical components such as gate drivers, protection circuitry and passive components, and potentially embedded sensing for health monitoring or performance feedback. The solicitation explicitly encourages joint submissions spanning industry, academia, and research organizations, which signals that ARL values teams that can cover materials, design, modeling, fabrication, and validation within one integrated effort.

On the funding and award structure, this opportunity uses cooperative agreements (not contracts), meaning the government expects substantial collaboration during execution rather than a hands-off grant model. ARL scientists intend to participate actively and leverage in-house expertise to jointly plan and conduct the research with awardees. The government anticipated up to four awards, with an expected total funding level of about $2.5 million per year for up to three years (subject to funds availability). Applicants were asked to provide a detailed technical plan and budget for year one, plus a clear outline of the work for two option years. Cost sharing was not required, but if offered it would be considered to the extent it strengthens the proposed work and benefits the program, and proposals needed to show a firm commitment and a credible method for integrating any cost share into the research.

Several administrative conditions are important. Eligibility was described as unrestricted (open to a broad range of entity types) as long as applicants met the eligibility terms in the parent BAA. Proposals had to follow the submission requirements in BAA W911NF-17-S-0003 (specifically the section referenced for submission instructions), and for this FY2018 special notice funding they had a hard due date of October 6, 2017; late proposals were not considered for award under this special notice. The notice also stated there would be no formal Q&A process for this topic; instead, technical clarification questions were directed to the listed technical point of contact, with a separate contact for general assistance. Another notable restriction is that no equipment purchases using federal funds were allowed under awards made from this special notice, so applicants needed to design their research and demonstration approach accordingly.

Overall, SiC APPS II is best understood as a targeted applied research push to modernize power module packaging so SiC devices can deliver their promised benefits at the module and system level. The Army is explicitly looking for advanced, demonstrable module designs that significantly outperform conventional packaging in key areas like electrical parasitics, thermal performance, and long-term reliability, with progress enabled by integrated modeling, new materials and interconnects, and manufacturable architectures suitable for demanding high-power, high-voltage applications.

• The Department of Defense, Dept of the Army -- Materiel Command in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "SILICON CARBIDE ADVANCED PACKAGING OF POWER SEMICONDUCTORS II" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 12.431.
• This funding opportunity was created on Sep 07, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Oct 06, 2017. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $2,500,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 4 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

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