Real time resistance monitoring during sintering of silver paste

Real time resistance monitoring technology is used to study the silver sintering process. Signals of joint resistance show events such as resistance increase to >10 GΩ, abrupt resistance drop from >10 GΩ to <1 kΩ, and gradual resistance drop to <1 mΩ. Based on cross-sectioning of samples at various stages of sintering and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), we propose a correlation between resistance signal and solvent evaporation, capping agent degradation, and silver sintering. We identified distinct clusters of sintered silver of samples removed from the oven when the resistance drops to ∼2.94 Ω.