Insulation reliability of electric circuit fabricated with nano-silver plating catalyst

We propose a novel surface metallization method of various substrates using silver nanoparticles (nano-silver) as a plating catalyst and seed [1]-[5]. The designed combination of thin polymer adhesive layer (primer) and nano-silver catalyst results in good adhesion strength between plated metal and substrates. The high removability of silver catalyst residue and the absence of nickel interfacial layer in the present system are advantageous for fine pitch circuit formation. Despite these advantages, there are general concerns about the electrical failure of circuits due to electrochemical migration of silver [6], [7]. In order to eliminate the concerns, we evaluated insulation reliability of the electric circuits by thermal humidity bias (THB) test. As a result, the electric circuits fabricated with nano-silver catalyst showed insulation reliability equal to or higher than that of commercial CCL or the circuit obtained by using the conventional palladium catalyst.