Structure–property correlation in pressureless sintering silver pastes: a comprehensive study on hybrid fillers of flake-shaped Nano- and micro-silver
摘要
This study investigates high-performance silver pastes for low-temperature pressureless sintering, focusing on synergistic effects of hybrid fillers comprising flake-shaped micro-silver (Ag-FM) and nano-silver (Ag-FN). Pastes with varying Ag-FM/Ag-FN ratios were formulated and characterized for rheology, thermal behavior, microstructure, and interconnect performance. AgFN exhibits high sintering activity but tends to increase viscosity, limiting solid content to approximately 85 wt%. Moreover, its oriented dense packing structure hinders uniform solvent evaporation, ultimately leading to visible defects in sintered joints. In hybrid formulations, Ag-FM act as a scaffold and disrupts this dense packing to enable uniform solvent escape, while Ag-FN simultaneously sinters around Ag-FM particles, enhancing network density and connectivity. The optimal formulation (paste 4#, 85:15 Ag-FM/Ag-FN ratio) exhibits remarkable synergy, achieving superior shear strength (65.81 MPa) and low resistivity (4.9 μΩ·cm), while retaining 45.05 MPa bond strength after 1000 h aging at 250 °C. This work elucidates the synergistic mechanism between flake-shaped micro- and nano-silver, offering critical insights for designing high-performance pressureless sintering pastes.