Sintering behavior and effect of silver nanoparticles on the resistivity of electrically conductive adhesives composed of silver flakes

In this paper, silver nanoparticles with size of 30-50nm were synthesized by reducing silver nitrate with sodium borohydride and sodium citrate and using PVP as an adsorption agent in the ethanol solution. The experimental results indicate that the morphologies and sintering behaviors of both kinds of silver nanoparticles are impacted by glutaric acid and sintering temperature. The electrically conductive adhesives (ECAs) filled with micro-sized silver flakes and silver nanoparticles as hybrid fillers were fabricated and the electrical properties were investigated based on the fraction of the silver nanoparticles of the total of silver flakes and the curing temperature, etc. The incorporation of the untreated/treated silver nanoparticles into the polymer matrix with 65 wt% silver filler the resistivity increased in almost all cases, especially the high fraction and the low curing temperature. The curing temperature has influence on the resistivity of the ECAs filled with micro-sized silver flakes and the silver nanoparticles due to the sintering of the silver nanoparticles. The addition of 10% treated silver nanoparticles into the ECAs with 60 wt% silver fillers, the resistivity is slightly lower than that of the ECAs with micro-sized silver flakes. In the system of the ECAs with the high loading of silver fillers, the untreated/treated silver nanoparticles have little effect on the electrical conductivity. The results suggest that the morphology and distribution of silver fillers are the key to affect the conductivity of ECAs when nanoparticles are included in the system.