Silver nanosintering: a lead-free alternative to soldering

We propose a lead-free silver paste as a replacement for a high-temperature lead-rich solder used for electronics. The pastes tested here contain a small amount of solvent, but primarily consist of silver powder and alkoxide-passivated silver nanoparticles that undergo nanosintering when heated. The pastes were used to connect silicon diode chips to copper bases at 350°C in nitrogen ambient without external pressure. The resulting diode packages had electrical and thermal properties about equal to those with lead-solder joints. The mechanical strengths also were comparable to the lead joint. These properties make this nanosilver paste the first viable lead-free alternative to a lead solder.