Performance of Silver Nano Particles as an Electronics Packaging Interconnects Material

Silver nano particle materials are investigated for use in microelectronics packaging as an innovative lead-free interconnect material. The nano particle materials were evaluated in terms of mechanical, electrical, metallurgical, and reliability performance. The silver nano particles are around 8 nm in diameter and are sintered at a temperature of 230 C to form material nearly indistinguishable from the bulk metal. Sintering behaviors are examined to see how the nano particles form grains with different sintering process conditions; resistivity is measured to estimate the electrical performance of the sintered nano particles; adhesion tests are conducted for measuring the adhesion strength of the processed silver nano particle materials with other packaging materials; leakage current measurement is performed to see the silver electro-migration effect; frequency response is measured for RF applications, and thermal shock tests are conducted to evaluate the electronics packages of electronics packages using the silver nano particle interconnect materials.