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Investigation on electrical and microstructural properties of Thick Film Lead-Free resistor series under various firing conditions

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Abstract

The paper presents investigation of four lead free thick film resistor pastes, developed at ITME, denoted R-100, R-1k, R-10k and R-100k with sheet resistivities of 0.1, 1, 10 and 100 kΩ/□, respectively. The resistors were based on RuO2 as the conductive phase. The aim of the work was to evaluate the influence of firing conditions of the resistive pastes on a sintering process. The pastes were screen printed onto alumina substrate with prefired AgPd lead-free terminations. They were fired at several temperatures from 750 to 950 °C for 10 min at peak temperature, as well as fired at the highest temperature for 6 h, in order to bring the sintering process into the equilibrium. The properties of the resistors, i.e , sheet resistivity and temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR), microstructure changes, glass crystallization upon firing, etc., were examined. Dried and fired resistor samples were evaluated by X-Ray diffraction analysis and by the scanning electron microscopy. The RuO2 conductive phase maintained the same crystal structure regardless of the firing conditions. No devitrification was observed in lead-free resistors glasses. The lattice constants of RuO2 were uniform after firing at temperatures over 800 °C. The resistors matched the desired resistivity and the TCR was the least temperature dependent at the firing temperatures around 850 °C.

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Acknowledgments

Project operated within the Foundation for Polish Science Ventures Programme co-financed by the EU European Regional Development Fund.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Electronic Materials Technology, Warsaw, Poland

    Konrad Kiełbasiński, Małgorzata Jakubowska & Anna Młożniak

  2. Institute of Microelectronic and Optoelectronic, Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland

    Konrad Kiełbasiński

  3. Faculty of Mechatronics, Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland

    Małgorzata Jakubowska

  4. Jožef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Marko Hrovat & Janez Holc

  5. HIPOT RR, Šentjernej, Slovenia

    Darko Belavič

Authors
  1. Konrad Kiełbasiński
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  2. Małgorzata Jakubowska
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  3. Anna Młożniak
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  4. Marko Hrovat
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  5. Janez Holc
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  6. Darko Belavič
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Correspondence to Konrad Kiełbasiński.

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Kiełbasiński, K., Jakubowska, M., Młożniak, A. et al. Investigation on electrical and microstructural properties of Thick Film Lead-Free resistor series under various firing conditions. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 21, 1099–1105 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-010-0092-0

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