ABSTRACT
Electrically conductive adhesives have attracted significant attention during the last decades due to their increased usage in electronics industry to replace lead soldering [1-18]. Theoretical and experimental studies have been performed on basic conduction mechanisms [1-8]; the effects of particle size, shape and type [3-8]; behavior in the bonded form [5, 7-15]; processing effects, such as pressure [1, 3, 8], adhesive film thickness [2, 4, 7], silver coating [3, 4, 6], anisotropic alignment of nickel particles in magnetic field [16]; as well as the possibility of using polymeric emeraldine salt particles as conductive fillers [17]. Ni/epoxy conductive adhesives can be used
in integrated circuit (IC) packaging due to their lower cost than Ag/epoxy adhesives, with acceptable electrical conductivity, high thermal conductivity and low thermal expansion. Furthermore, silver-filled conductive adhesives suffer from the problem of silver migration, which may lead to failure in electrical conduction [18]. It is well known that process conditions affect the mechanical performance of thermosetting adhesives in general [19-23], and mechanical as well as conductive performances of electrically conductive adhesives in particular [5, 7-15].
