In today’s world, reliability is critical when it comes to electronic devices. Technology companies continue to redefine the possibilities with their ability to shrink components and develop cutting-edge technologies within these devices. Electrically conductive adhesives (ECA’s) are becoming essential in the assembly and ruggedization of electronic devices, especially in the medical field. In an interview with Dr. Mark Currie, Senior Scientific Principal at Henkel, we explore more on this topic of ECA’s and their role in the production of electronics.
Electrically conductive adhesives have been available for several decades and provide an alternative to solder as an interconnect solution delivering electrical, mechanical and thermal performance. Solder is very rigid and less malleable and does not share the same flexible attributes as an ECA which is an interconnect hybrid solution of silver dispersed in a malleable polymer matrix. Furthermore, the application temperatures of ECA interconnects lies between 25⁰C and 200⁰C only (chemistry dependent) and can withstand continuous operating temperatures up to 175⁰C.
We posed the question, “why are ECA’s becoming the solution for more applications?” An important single question, with four answers to provide context: process, reliability, sustainability, and macro technological breakthroughs.