A Novel Preparation of Ag Agglomerates Paste with Unique Sintering Behavior at Low Temperature

A novel bonding process using Ag agglomerates paste prepared by Ag2O reduction has been proposed, which solved the problem of Cu substrate oxidation in the conventional Ag2O sintering process for Cu–Cu bonding. By applying the Ag agglomerate paste to Ag–Ag bonding, a shear strength of 28.3 MPa at 150 °C was obtained. Further studies showed that the optimum sintering temperature was at 225 °C, and a shear strength of 46.4 MPa was obtained. In addition, a shear strength of 20 MPa was obtained at 225 °C for Cu–Cu bonding. Compared to common Ag pastes, the results in this paper revealed that the sintering behavior of Ag agglomerates was unique, and the sintering mechanisms for Ag–Ag and Cu–Cu bonding were also discussed.