Temperature Dependence on Tensile Mechanical Properties of Sintered Silver Film

This paper investigates the influence of temperature on tensile mechanical properties of sintered silver (s-Ag) films with 8–10 μm in thickness for fundamental reliability design of semiconductor systems. The s-Ag film sintered under a pressure of 60 MPa possesses the porosity (p) around 5% determined from cross-sectional scanning electron microscope (SEM) images. The stress–strain (S-S) curves of s-Ag and pure silver (p-Ag) films are obtained using originally designed uniaxial tensile tester at temperatures from 25 °C to 150 °C. The S-S curves of p-Ag indicate ductile behavior irrespective of temperature, whereas those of s-Ag indicate brittle-ductile transition at 120 °C. Compared with p-Ag, s-Ag possesses low Young’s modulus (E) and high ultimate tensile strength (UTS) below 80 °C. The mechanism of brittle-ductile transition is discussed based on fracture surface observation results.