Not only are today’s package designers and assemblers faced with the inherent design and functionality challenges associated with smaller device footprints and higher I/O counts, but they must also ensure that proper thermal control is built into advanced electronics packages. In fact, heat management for modern power semiconductor devices such as rectifiers, power transistors, amplifiers and countless other consumer and automotive applications is one of the most pressing issues facing the packaging industry. As these packages marry smaller outlines with higher functions, ensuring efficient thermal management will be key to long-term reliability and performance.

For high reliability applications such as satellite, automotive, medical and telecom products, electrically conductive adhesives are often used as an alternative to traditional solders. Their benefits are many but, for these applications, conductive adhesives deliver low temperature processing, fine-pitch capability and improved thermal cycling resistance. These advantages are arguably compelling, but electrically conductive adhesives have had limited success on common electronic metals such as copper and Sn and, therefore, have been used most often on noble metallizations like gold and silver palladium on ceramic substrates. While conductive adhesives may also provide benefits to the thin film solar cell market and the silicon solar cell segment, their limitations on copper and Sn have slowed their adoption.

While lead-free processes now seem like yesterday’s news and the electronics industry
at large has generally accepted and commonly uses the SnAgCu (SAC) alloy, there are
still market sectors that have struggled with prevailing SAC formulations.

With all the talk of halogen-free in the electronics industry these days, it’s hard to believe
that there is actually no official halogen-free legislation – yet.