Flip chip attachment on flexible LCP substrate using an ACF

In this study the reliability of a flip chip bonding process using anisotropic conductive adhesives (ACA) was evaluated. The flexible substrates used were made of liquid crystal polymer (LCP), which is an interesting new material having excellent properties for flexible printed circuit boards. The test samples were prepared using two different anisotropic conductive films (ACF) having the same fast-cure resin matrix, but different conductive particles. The reliability of the test samples was studied by accelerated environmental tests. In the constant humidity test the temperature was 85 °C and the relative humidity was 85%. The temperature cycling test was carried out between temperatures of −40 °C and 85 °C. To determine the exact time of a failure the resistance of each test sample was measured using continuous real-time measurement. A clear difference between the behaviour of the conductive particles was seen in the test. While the adhesive having polymer particles had only one failure during testing, the adhesive having nickel particles had a considerable number of failures in both tests. Cross sections of the samples were made to analyze the failure mechanisms.