On the Thermal–Mechanical Behaviors of a Novel Nanowire-Based Anisotropic Conductive Film Technology

Extensive understanding and management of the thermal-mechanical characteristics of novel packaging designs during the bonding process are indispensable to the realization of the technologies. Thus, this paper attempts to explore the bonding process-induced thermal-mechanical behaviors of an advanced flip chip (FC) electronic packaging. FC packaging employs a novel anisotropic conductive film, which is a thin composite film composed of polymer matrix and thousands of millions of highly oriented, 1-D silver (Ag) nanowires on the scale of 200 nanometers in diameter. For carrying out the process simulation, a process-dependent finite element (FE) simulation methodology that integrates both thermal and nonlinear contact FE analyses and a special meshing scheme is applied. The material properties of the nanoscale Ag wires are first explored using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. By the characterized material properties of the Ag nanowires, the effective material properties of the composite film are derived through two theoretical approaches: 1) the rule-of-mixture (ROM) technique and 2) the proposed FE method-based approach. The predicted results by these two approaches are extensively compared with each other to examine the feasibility of using the widely used ROM technique for such cases. In addition, the validity of the proposed process-dependent FE simulation methodology is also confirmed through three experiments: 1) micro-thermocouple measurement of temperature; 2) Twyman-Green Moire interferometry measurement of out-of-plane deformations; and 3) portable engineering Moire interferometry measurement of in-plane deformations. Throughout the investigation, the effectiveness of the novel interconnect technology is demonstrated. Good agreement with the experiments is also obtained. It is found that the technology may ensure good electrical performance and structural integrity, not only at room temperature but even at elevated temperature, based on its substantial contact stresses but minor peeling stresses on the bonding line, together with a moderate, process-induced warpage on the substrate.