Development and characterisation of micrometer sized polymer particles with extremely narrow size distribution

This paper describes size characterisation and mechanical characterisation of micrometer sized polymer particles with an extremely narrow size distribution. Typical applications for this type of particles are as conductive particles (plated with metal) in Anisotropic Conductive Films (ACF) or as spacers for LCD or chip stacking. A number of different instruments and techniques have been investigated to be able to measure size, size distribution and frequency of “off-sized” particles. Due to very tight specifications, none of the instruments were able to provide the full set of information needed, and a combination of different techniques is needed. Also greatly improved technique for mechanical characterisation of such polymer particles are reported in this paper. Adapting a commercial Nano-Indenter and optimising sample preparation and testing procedure have obtained very reproducible and consistent results.