Surface measurement data of polished LTCC: Characterization of pores in polished low temperature co-fired glass-ceramic composites for optimization of their micromachining

Pores are intrinsic defects of ceramic composites and influence their
functional properties significantly. Their characterization is therefore a
pivotal task in material and process optimization. It is demonstrated that
polished section analysis allows for obtaining precise information on pore
size, shape, area fraction, and homogeneous distribution. It is proven
that laser scanning microscopy provides accurate height maps and is thus
an appropriate technique for assessing surface features. Such data is used
to compare areas with good and poor polishing results, and various surface
parameters are evaluated in terms of their informative value and data
processing effort. The material under investigation is a low-temperature
co-fired ceramic composite. Through statistical analysis of the data, the
inclination angle was identified as an appropriate parameter to describe
the polishing result. By using masked data, direct conclusions can be
drawn about the leveling of load-bearing surface areas, which are crucial
in photolithographic processing steps and bonding technology. A broad
discussion of different defects based on the results contributes to a
critical analysis of the potentials and obstacles of micromachining of
low-temperature cofired ceramic substrates.