PREPARATION OF UNIFORM NANO AND MICRO COPPER AND NICKEL POWDERS FOR ELECTRONIC APPLICATIONS

摘要

This paper presents a convenient, rapid and reproducible method for synthesing copper and nickel powders suitable for electronic applications. Dispersed uniform particles varying in size from 0.1 to 5.0 micrometers for copper and from 30 to 900 nm for nickel were prepared by heating the metal salts in polyols containing different dispersing agents. The size of the particles depended on the nature of the metallic salt and the polyol, as well as, on the type and concentration of the nucleation catalyst. The resulting Cu and Ni particles are uniform, highly crystalline and display very good oxidation resistance. The ability to easily disperse the particles in the typical vehicles used in the thick film pastes make them suitable for electronic applications in general and for MLCC internal and external electrodes in particular.