Electrical Conductivity of Thick Films Made from Silver Methylcarbamate Paste

Abstract

We have explored the electrical conductivity of thick films made from silver methylcarbamate paste using metallic silver as the electrically conductive phase. The paste was composed of 30 wt.% to 90 wt.% organic vehicle and 10 wt.% to 70 wt.% functional phase precursor (silver methylcarbamate). After the paste was sintered, films with thickness of 4.50 μm to 12.70 μm were obtained, in which the elemental percentage of silver varied from about 5 wt.% to above 99 wt.%. Experiments showed that both the electrical conductivity and the elemental percentage were mainly affected by the initial silver content in the paste and the parameters of the sintering process. For given sintering conditions, higher initial silver content led to higher elemental percentage of silver, improving the electrical conductivity of the thick film. The conditions of the sintering process had a significant influence on the evaporation and decomposition rates of the paste components, the elemental percentage of silver, and the microstructure of the thick film. Higher temperatures, longer times, lower heating rates, and more oxygen-rich sintering atmospheres were found to accelerate the evaporation and decomposition and increase the elemental percentage of silver, both of which served to enhance the electrical conductivity. For initial silver contents less than about 10 wt.%, the lowest electrical resistivity of the thick film only reached the order of 10⁻⁴ Ω cm, irrespective of the sintering conditions. For contents between 10 wt.% and 25 wt.%, it was possible to attain lowest resistivity values on the order of 10⁻⁵ Ω cm. Above 25 wt.%, the lowest resistivity could reach 10⁻⁶ Ω cm, comparable to that of bulk silver.