Thermal behaviour of silver-filled epoxy adhesives. Technological implications in microelectronics

One-component silver-filled epoxy adhesives electrically conductive with low extractable ionic content have been used in microelectronics for attach applications. For the specific application described here there was evidence showing that adhesive polymerisation was not complete with negative consequences for the electronic devices. The present study aimed at understanding the causes of such disadvantages and setting up the best conditions to make the epoxy adhesive perfectly suitable for the required applications. The work was carried out mainly by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and with the help the dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) technique. The study succeeded in determining that the technological problems were due to incomplete polymerisation that caused solvent and monomer retention. These residues produced a leakage of the insulating properties of some capacitors present in the devices jeopardising the sensor working. Moreover, the study also showed that it was possible to avoid these difficulties adjusting the polymerisation temperature to 130 degreesC and respecting curing time of 3 h: with these new curing conditions excellent results were achieved.