Conductive Adhesive Joint Reliability

There are two primary categories of electrically conductive adhesive (ECA): isotropic conductive adhesive (ICA) and anisotropic conductive adhesive (ACA), where ACAs are available as paste (ACP) or film (ACF). Both types conduct through metal filler particles in an adhesive polymer matrix.This chapter presents an overview of the current status of understanding of conductive adhesives in various electronic packaging applications and of some fundamental issues relevant to their continuing development. It is organized with initial discussions of basic ECA concepts of structure-related properties, and how these are affected by material selection and processing, followed by general properties and reliability considerations.