2,379 research outputs found
Mechanical and electrical characterisation of anisotropic conductive adhesive particles
This thesis presents research into the mechanical and electrical characterisation of
Anisotropic Conductive Adhesive (ACA) particles and their behaviour within typical
joints. A new technique has been developed for study of individual ACA particle
mechanical and electrical performance when undergoing deformation. A study of the
effects of planarity variations on individual electrical joints in real ACA assemblies is
presented firstly, followed by the research on the mechanical deformation and electrical
tests of individual ACA particles undergoing deformation.
In the co-planarity research, experiments introducing deliberate rotation between
a chip and substrate were designed and carried out to simulate planarity variations
in ACA assemblies. There are two outputs from this part of the research. One is the
planarity variation effects on individual electrical joints in ACA assemblies, and the
other is the effect of bond thickness on the resistance of a real joint. [Continues.
Additive manufacturing and joints: Design and methods
The industrialization of the Additive Manufacturing (AM) processes is enabling the use of AM components as final product in several applications. These processes are particularly relevant for manufacturing components with optimized custom-tailored geometries. However, to fully exploit the potentiality of AM, the development of knowledge aimed to produce dedicated design methods is needed. Indeed, even if AM enables the manufacturing of new kinds of structures, e.g. 3D lattice structures, it introduces process-specific design input and limitations that needs design methods different to from the ones for subtractive manufacturing.
Design for AM (DfAM) is a design methodology that aims to take advantage of new buildable geometries but taking into account also AM processed materials anisotropy and 3D printing constraints.
Recent literature focused on the assembly of AM components and on the AM components joining to a main structure. The conclusion was that adhesive bonding is a promising joining process, especially considering its improved stress distribution compared to fastening, but at the time of writing a method that combines DfAM and adhesive bonding knowledge is not available.
The work presented in this thesis focused on developing knowledge on design for AM and bonded joints.
First step was evaluating testing methods for AM and producing data on materials properties.
Secondly, the early works on tailoring approaches for AM joints, published recently in scientific literature, were analyzed. Then AM dedicated designs, modifications and testing methods were proposed both for the adherends (in the thickness and on the surfaces) and the joints. Specifically, an innovative joint design concept was introduced, i.e. using the 3D printing parameters as bonded joint design factors.
Eventually, feasibility of performing joints using multi-material AM with conductive polymer to embed heating elements was assessed. The 3D printed through the thickness circuits is a cutting-edge approach to enable new solutions for joints structural monitoring and self-healing
Conductive Particles in Anisotropic Conductive Films
Anisotropic Conductive Films (ACFs) are the major products used for fine-pitch interconnection technology in electronic packaging because of their low incidence in electrical interconnection issues such as high contact resistance and open/short-circuit failure. ACF are conductive adhesives composed of a suitable binder and electrically Conductive Particles (CP). These CP can be selected from a variety of materials to meet specific applications or requirements. In this Mini Review we describe the different types of conductive particles that can be used in ACF, the advantages and disadvantages of each type, as well as other relevant issues such as particle size, concentration, and capture rate. This work could serve as a guide for any group that is interested in research on ACFs.Fil: Trupp, Federico Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Física. Laboratorio de Polímeros y Materiales Compuestos; ArgentinaFil: Cibils, Roberto Manuel. Invap S. E.; ArgentinaFil: Goyanes, Silvia Nair. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; Argentin
Mechanics of Non Planar Interfaces in Flip-Chip Interconnects
With the continued proliferation of low cost, portable consumer electronic
products with greater functionality, there is increasing demand for electronic packaging that is smaller, lighter and less expensive. Flip chip is an essential enabling technology for these products. The electrical connection between the chip I/O and substrate is achieved using conductive materials, such as solder, conductive epoxy, metallurgy bump
(e.g., gold) and anisotropic conductive adhesives. The interconnect regions of flip-chip packages consists of highly dissimilar materials to meet their functional requirements. The mismatches in properties, contact morphology and crystal orientation at those material interfaces make them vulnerable to failure through delamination and crack
growth under various loading patterns. This study encompasses contact between deformable bodies, bonding at the asperities and fracture properties at interfaces formed by the interconnects of flip-chip packages. This is achieved through experimentation and modeling at different length scales, to be able to capture the detailed microstructural features and contact mechanics at interfaces typically found in electronic systems
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Experimental and modelling studies of electronic packaging interconnections formed with lead-free materials
Both the experimental and the modelling techniques have been investigated and used to investigate factors that influence the formation, quality and reliability of electronic packaging interconnections formed using solder alloys and anisotropic conductive films (ACFs).
The wetting behaviours of new lead-free solders (i.e. Sn-2.8Ag-0.5Cu-1.0Bi and Sn-0.7Cu-0.3Ni) have been evaluated using the wetting balance test. This assessment ahs been performed for three soldering temperatures with three different types of fluxes. The results have been compared with the conventional Sn-Pb, Sn-Ag-Cu and Sn-Cu solders. It has been found that the wettability of the lead-free solders is not as good as that of the Sn-Pb solder. The additions of Bi into the Sn-Ag-Cu solder and Ni into the Sn-Cu solder improve the wettability that is strongly dependent on the type of the flux and the soldering temperature. In general, NC-flux is suitable for Cu-substrate whereas Ws-flux is suitable for Ni substrate, but for the Sn-2.8Ag-0.5-Cu solder on Ni substrate, good wettability has been observed with both the NC and the R-type fluxes. Computational modelling of this test has revealed that the increase in the depth and the radius of the solder bath has little effect on the wetting force, but the meniscus height decreases when the bath radius exceeds 14 mm.
Dissolution of solid metals into liquid solders has been investigated through experiments and computer modelling. Microstructural studies have been carried out and the growth behaviours of the intermetallic compounds (IMCs) during wetting, solidification and isothermal ageing have been investigated. It has been found that the addition of Bi into the Sn-Ag-Cu solder reduces the consumptions of the substrates and suppresses the growth of IMCs during wetting and ageing. Similarly, the addition of Ni into the Sn-Cu solder reduces both the consumptions of the substrates and the growth of IMCs during wetting and short term ageing but enhances the growth of IMCs during long term ageing.
Experimental and computer modelling techniques have been used to measure the temperature in the ACF during bonding. The temperature in an ACF joint becomes very close to the required maximum bonding temperature within the first 1 s of bonding time. The impact of this temperature on the cure process and on the ACF physical properties such as loss modulus, storage modulus, and glass transition temperature has been investigated. It has been found that the higher the bonding temperature the more the curing degree of ACF is. Rapid changes occur in the physical properties of ACF at temperatures above the glass transition point. When the ACF is cured for a long time at a high temperature, the physical properties may degrade. The adhesion strength of ACF joint increases as the curing degree increases. However, when the ACF joint undergoes a thermal aging treatment, the adhesion strength increases for the samples bonded at lower temperatures, but decreases for the samples bonded at higher temperatures. The rate of increase in the contact resistance is dramatically higher for the samples bonded at lower temperatures than for those bonded at higher temperatures. Computer modelling of the isothermal ageing of ACF joint confirms that the thermal load causes the expansion of the adhesive matrix and generates high stresses on the conductive particle. This may result in the permanent damage of the outermost conductive metallic layers as well as electrical failure.
The effect of external bending loads on the electrical reliability of ACF-based interconnection has also been studied through computer modelling. The analysis reveals that ACF thickness increases at the corners of the chip-ACF joint more than that of the middle position. This causes a gap between the chip and the substrate results in the failure of the electrical interconnections
Isotropically conductive adhesive filled with silver metalised polymer spheres
Isotropic conductive adhesives (ICAs) have a growing range of applications in electronics packaging and have recently emerged as an important material in photo-voltaic module interconnections, particularly for thin-film and other non-silicon technologies where soldering processes are often unsuitable due to the nature of the metallisation or the limited maximum temperature the assembly can be exposed to. ICAs typically comprise of a high volume fraction of solid metallic flakes, usually silver, in an adhesive matrix because of its highly conductive oxide however, this thesis will focus on adhesives containing a large volume fraction of silver coated/metalised mono-sized polymer spheres (Ag-MPS). Incorporating silver coated mono-sized polymer spheres is anticipated to deliver specific advantages such as a significant reduction in the required silver content, improvement of the overall mechanical properties and flexibility to tune the properties of the filler according to the application compared with conventional flake filled adhesives.
In this research advancements in the understanding of Ag-MPS filled ICAs, both through theory and experiments, have been made. Analytical models to predict an individual Ag-MPS resistance and Ag-MPS filled ICA resistance have been developed. The experiments based on the flat punch nanoindentation technique have been conducted to determine individual Ag-MPS resistances. The theoretical and experimental studies establish Ag-MPS diameter, coating resistivity, coating thickness, contact radius, and contact geometry as the main contributors towards the resistance of an Ag-MPS filled ICAs. These studies showed that Ag-MPS resistance decreases with increasing coating thickness and contact radius but increases with increasing coating resistivity. The experiments have also been conducted to investigate the effect of Ag-MPS volume fraction, diameter, coating thickness, curing conditions and shrinkage (affecting contact radius) on ICA conductivity and comparisons are made with flake filled and commercial ICAs. The results showed that ICA conductivity increases with increasing volume fraction and coating thickness but decreases with diameter. More importantly the results showed that conductivities similar to those of flake filled ICAs, including those commercially available, can be obtained using 70% less silver. The results show that, Ag content can be reduced further to just 7% with use of larger 30μm Ag-MPS but with a lower resulting conductivity. Thus for applications where very high
conductivity is not required larger Ag-MPS may offer even greater potential cost benefits, which is something flake filled ICAs cannot offer. This is a significant achievement which can allow tuning of ICA formulations according to the demands of the application, which is not possible with the use of silver flakes as there is only a limited range of silver flake volume fractions that will yield useful levels of conductivity
Novel fine pitch interconnection methods using metallised polymer spheres
There is an ongoing demand for electronics devices with more functionality while reducing size and cost, for example smart phones and tablet personal computers. This requirement has led to significantly higher integrated circuit input/output densities and therefore the need for off-chip interconnection pitch reduction. Flip-chip processes utilising anisotropic conductive adhesives anisotropic conductive films (ACAs/ACFs) have been successfully applied in liquid crystal display (LCD) interconnection for more than two decades. However the conflict between the need for a high particle density, to ensure sufficient the conductivity, without increasing the probability of short circuits has remained an issue since the initial utilization of ACAs/ACFs for interconnection. But this issue has become even more severe with the challenge of ultra-fine pitch interconnection.
This thesis advances a potential solution to this challenge where the conductive particles typically used in ACAs are selectively deposited onto the connections ensuring conductivity without bridging. The research presented in this thesis work has been undertaken to advance the fundamental understanding of the mechanical characteristics of micro-sized metal coated polymer particles (MCPs) and their application in fine or ultra-fine pitch interconnections. This included use of a new technique based on an in-situ nanomechanical system within SEM which was utilised to study MCP fracture and failure when undergoing deformation. Different loading conditions were applied to both uncoated polymer particles and MCPs, and the in-situ system enables their observation throughout compression. The results showed that both the polymer particles and MCP display viscoelastic characteristics with clear strain-rate hardening behaviour, and that the rate of compression therefore influences the initiation of cracks and their propagation direction.
Selective particle deposition using electrophoretic deposition (EPD) and magnetic deposition (MD) of Ni/Au-MCPs have been evaluated and a fine or ultra-fine pitch deposition has been demonstrated, followed by a subsequent assembly process. The MCPs were successfully positively charged using metal cations and this charging mechanism was analysed. A new theory has been proposed to explain the assembly mechanism of EPD of Ni/Au coated particles using this metal cation based charging method. The magnetic deposition experiments showed that sufficient magnetostatic interaction force between the magnetized particles and pads enables a highly selective dense deposition of particles. Successful bonding to form conductive interconnections with pre-deposited particles have been demonstrated using a thermocompression flip-chip bonder, which illustrates the applicable capability of EPD of MCPs for fine or ultra-fine pitch interconnection
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Bio-inspired soft robotic systems: Exploiting environmental interactions using embodied mechanics and sensory coordination
Despite the widespread development of highly intelligent robotic systems exhibiting great precision, reliability, and dexterity, robots remain incapable of performing basic manipulation tasks that humans take for granted. Manipulation in unstructured environments continues to be acknowledged as a significant challenge. Soft robotics, the use of less rigid materials in robots, has been proposed as one means of addressing these limitations. The technique enables more compliant interactions with the environment, allowing for increasingly adaptive behaviours better suited to more human-centric applications.
Embodied intelligence is a biologically inspired concept in which intelligence is a function of the entire system, not only the controller or `brain'. This thesis focuses on the use of embodied intelligence for the development of soft robots, with a particular focus on how it can aid both perception and adaptability. Two main hypotheses are raised: first, that the mechanical design and fabrication of soft-rigid hybrid robots can enable increasingly environmentally adaptive behaviours, and second, that sensing materials and morphology can provide intelligence that assists perception through embodiment. A number of approaches and frameworks for the design and development of embodied systems are presented that address these hypotheses.
It is shown how embodiment in soft sensor morphology can be used to perform localised processing and thereby distribute the intelligence over the body of a system. Specifically in soft robots, sensor morphology utilises the directional deformations created by interactions with the environment to aid in perception. Building on and formalising these ideas, a number of morphology-based frameworks are proposed for detecting different stimuli.
The multifaceted role of materials in soft robots is demonstrated through the development of materials capable of both sensing and changes in material property. Such materials provide additional functionality beyond their integral scaffolding and static mechanical characteristics. In particular, an integrated material has been created exhibiting both sensing capabilities and also variable stiffness and `tack’ force, thereby enabling complex single-point grasping.
To maximise the intelligence that can be gained through embodiment, a design approach to soft robots, `soft-rigid hybrid' design is introduced. This approach exploits passive behaviours and body dynamics to provide environmentally adaptive behaviours and sensing. It is leveraged by multi-material 3D printing techniques and novel approaches and frameworks for designing mechanical structures.
The findings in this thesis demonstrate that an embodied approach to soft robotics provides capabilities and behaviours that are not currently otherwise achievable. Utilising the concept of `embodiment' results in softer robots with an embodied intelligence that aids perception and adaptive behaviours, and has the potential to bring the physical abilities of robots one step closer to those of animals and humans.EPSR
Mechanical and electrical characterisation of individual ACA conductor particles
Anisotropic conductive adhesives (ACAs) consist of a polymer adhesive matrix containing fine conductive particles. The primary objective of this experimental research is to establish a clearer understanding of the effects of the bonding force on the deformation of individual ACA particles and their resulting conductivity when in contact with an appropriate metallic surface. This has been achieved through simultaneous measurements of the deformation and electrical resistance whilst applying force using a specially configured nano-indenter machine, where the "indenter", instead of being pointed, had a flat tip about 20-30 mum in diameter. The merit of using this machine is that very small forces, of the order of 100 mN, can be accurately applied to the particles to a resolution of 100 nN and the resulting deformations, of less than 6 mum, can then be recorded to a resolution of 0.1 nm. The results showed that the ACA particle deformation was nonlinear and that the force/deformation at which particle crushing occurs was affected by the load rate. The resistance was observed to decrease as the deformation increased up to the crush point at which stage it increased slightly. The voltage versus current behaviour of a deformed ACA particle was also found to be linear
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