CORROSION CONTROL BOOSTS PERFORMANCE OF CONDUCTIVE ADHESIVES TO REPLACE LEAD-BASED SOLDER

摘要

ELECTRICALLY-CONDUCTIVE adhesive (ECA) materials offer the electronics industry an alternative to the tin-lead solder now used for connecting display driver chips, memory chips, and other devices to circuit boards. But before these materials find broad application in high-end electronic equipment, researchers will have to overcome technical challenges that include low current density. Using self-assembled monolayers -- essentially molecular wires -- and a three-part anti-corrosion strategy, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have made significant advances toward solving those problems. At the 229th national meeting of the American Chemical Society on 13 March, the researchers described improvements that could allow ECA materials to conduct electrical current as well as the metal alloy solders they are designed to replace. The research has been sponsored by the US' National Science Foundation, the US Environmental Protection Agency, and several electronic interconnect companies.