Electrical and Thermal Conduction of Isotropic Conductive Adhesive based on Novel Conductive Particles

The electrical and thermal properties of a novel conductive adhesive based on silver coated polymer spheres have been measured. The results show that high electrical and thermal conductivity can be obtained with very small volume fractions of silver. The technique makes it possible to tune particle size and silver thickness, to optimize the required conductivity with respect to cost for a range of different applications. The spherical shape of the particles provides a fully isotropic behavior. A simplified model has been made based on the conductivity of a spherical shell and expected contact areas. The model grasps critical elements like the effect of particle size and silver thickness as well as the observed sintering of particles.