Effects of BN and SiC nanoparticles on properties of conductive adhesive

Isotropic conductive adhesives (ICAs) are a type of interconnect material used more and more widely in computer, robot, mobile phone, LED and so on. Compared with traditional solders, isotropic conductive adhesives have better working plasticity, creep resistance and heat resistance. In particular, isotropic conductive adhesives are more responsive in high density packaging than solder, which determines the dominance of ICAs in high density packaging in the future. In order to improve the thermal conductivity of ICA with acceptable electrical conductivity, Ag flakers, BN and SiC nanoparticles were added into the matrix. The content of silver flakes was 75wt%, and the content of nanoparticles (BN or SiC) in the isotropic conductive adhesives were 0wt%, 0.5wt%, 1.5wt%, 2.5wt%, 3wt%, 5wt% in weight. The conductive adhesives were coated on the PCBs with stencil printing and fifty SR1206 chip components were mounted on a PCB using conductive adhesive. All samples were cured at 150°C for 1h. Further research into the reliability of the above isotropic conductive adhesives after temperature & humidity and thermal-cycling was carried out to analyze the effects of BN and SiC nanoparticals on the properties of ICA. The condition of the temperature & humidity test was 85 °C/85%RH, 500h. The thermal-cycling test was −40°C∼125°C, 500 cycles and the soaking time and ramping rate were 19min and ±15°C/min. Changes to electrical resistance were used to estimate the reliability of the isotropic conductive adhesives in this study. The microstructure of the failure samples was observed using a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The water absorption of all ICAs is the same after 94h temperature and humidity aging and the rate of water absorption is also the same during the aging. The ICA with 3% boron nitride nanoparticles and 75% micron silver flakes shows the best temperature and humidity reliability, with the fewest cracks on the interface between ICA and component. After 500h thermal cycling aging, the resistance reduces in the first 100h and maintains in a certain value after 332h cycled thermal. The samples have no wide cracks but a few small ones on the interface.