Effect of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) on Ag-Cu nanopaste performance

• Main Authors: Noordin, Norasiah Mohammad, Razak, Khairunisak Abd, Cheong, Kuan Yew
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: Additives; Aerospace industry; Automobile industry; Automotive electronics; Automotive engineering; Copper; Deionization; Differential scanning calorimetry; Drying ovens; Dwell time; Electronic devices; Electronic packaging; Ethylene glycol; Field emission microscopy; Metal particles; Morphology; Nanoparticles; Polyvinyl alcohol; Silver; Sintering; Substrates; Surfactants; X-ray diffraction
• ISSN: 0094-243X; 1551-7616
• DOI: 10.1063/1.4993389

Electronic devices used for extreme high temperature continue to be in demand, for instance in aviation, aerospace and automotive industry. The reliability of these devices strongly depends on electronic packaging. Die attach materials is vital in electronic packaging as it provides an interface in between a die and a substrate, and its quality will determine the performance of the devices. Nanopaste is one of categories classified in the die attach systems. It is a mixture of nano sized metal particles and organic additives (binder, surfactant, solvent). In this study, Ag and Cu nanoparticles was mixed into an organic binder system, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) serves as binder and ethylene glycol functions as surfactant while deionized water used to dissolve PVA. The mixture was inserted in vacuum oven at 70°C and then proceeds for sintering in horizontal tube furnace with various sintering temperature, a dwell time of 30 min and ramp rate of 5°C/min. The samples were then characterized using field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) to examine the morphology, X-ray diffraction (XRD) for phase identification, Four Point Probe to measure sheet resistance, and thermogravimetric and differential scanning calorimetry analysis (TGA/DSC) to study the thermal response with respect to temperature. These parameter were studied, the effect of PVA amount (0.10, 0.15, 0.20, 0.30, 0.40, 0.50 g) in Ag-Cu nanopaste formulation was visual inspected, the variation of drying time (20, 30, 40, 60, 80, 100, 120 min) in vacuum oven and sintering temperature (280, 300, 320, 340, 360, 380, 400°C) was recorded. The optimum condition for producing Ag-Cu nanopaste is by using 0.15 g of PVA in the Ag-Cu formulation, 30 min drying time and 340°C sintering temperature.