Silver-induced volatile species generation from conductive die attach adhesives

Commercial and model epoxy die-attach adhesives with and without silver filler, were investigated to examine the effect that the silver filler has on the outgassing characteristics of the organic matrix. The materials were subjected to typical temperature processing schedules including cure, preseal bake, and burn-in. The volatile species outgassing during each of the processing periods were analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Thermogravimetric analyses were also performed. It was determined that silver in the adhesive leads to a greater mass loss and a marked change in the outgassing species relative to the same adhesive system without silver. These effects were observed during cure, preseal bake, and burn-in, GC/MS measurements clearly indicated that new chemical species were outgassed when silver was added to the adhesive, suggesting that chemical reactions were occurring at the silver/organic interface