Characteristics of electrically conductive adhesives filled with silver-coated copper

Conductive adhesives have been investigated for use in microelectronics packaging as a lead-free solder substitute due to their advantages, such as low bonding temperature. However, high resistivity and poor mechanical behavior may be the limiting factors for the development of conductive adhesives. The metal fillers and the polymer resins provide electrical and mechanical interconnections between surface mount device components and a substrate. As metal fillers used in conductive adhesives, silver is the most commonly used due to its high conductivity and the stability. However the cost of conductive adhesives with silver fillers is much higher than usual lead-free solders and silver has poor electro-migration performance. So, copper can be a promising candidate for conductive filler metal due to its low resistivity and low cost, but oxidation causes this metal to lose its conductivity. In this study, electrically conductive adhesives (ECAs) using surface modified copper fillers were developed. Especially, in order to overcome the problem associated with the oxidation of copper, copper particles were coated with silver, and the silver-coated copper was tested as a filler metal. Especially the effect of silver coating on the electrical resistance just after curing and after aging was investigated. As a result, it was found that the electrical resistance of ECA with silver-coated copper filler was clearly lower and more stable than that of ECA with pure copper filler after curing process. And, during high temperature storage test, the degradation rate of electrical resistance for ECA with silver coated copper filler was quite slower than that for ECA with pure copper filler.