Industrial use of conductive adhesives for SMT assemblies

Conductive adhesives are gaining interest against SnPb soldering in microelectronics assemblies. The aim of this study is to evaluate the use of conductive adhesives for industrial SMT assemblies. Hence, after a short description of the most common conductive adhesives in use, this paper presents how to settle parameters of stenciling and 'pick and place' machines ordinary used for solder joints; the temperature cure schedule of conductive adhesives is defined, and validate by physical and thermal analyses. Finally, the reliability is evaluated and failure mechanisms are pointed out.