An Overview of Isotropic Conductive Adhesives Filled with Metal-coated Polymer Spheres

Abstract

Novel isotropic conductive adhesives (ICAs) filled with metal-coated polymer spheres (MPS) have been introduced in order to improve the mechanical performance, and hence the reliability, compared to conventional ICAs filled with solid silver (Ag) particles. This paper summarizes a number of characterization studies on the electrical, the mechanical and the rheological properties, as well as a study on the reliability, of MPS-based ICAs. The feasibility of the ICAs filled with MPS has been demonstrated in terms of potential processing capabilities, improved mechanical performance and competitive electrical properties (compared to conventional ICAs with Ag flakes). Therefore, the MPS-based ICAs have a good potential for demanding environment applications, in which electronic products (e.g., hand held devices) are subjected to thermal shock and thermal cycling, mechanical vibration and mechanical shock.