Effect of oxide glass on the sintering behavior and electrical properties in Ag thick films

The sintering behavior of silver metal-oxide glass composite thick films has been studied by varying the glass contents. It is shown that during heat treatment, the glass becomes liquid and has a major effect on the microstructural development of the silver particles and on the sheet resistance of the thick films. As the glass content increases, the initial repacking of silver particles takes place more rapidly and the microstructure shows different features. When the glass content is increased beyond some limit (about 20 vol.%), the silver particles exude glass to decrease the net energy and the glass forms liquid pools separated from these silver-particle assemblages. The correlation between microstructural and electrical properties of the thick film is discussed