Electrical and thermal investigations on printed conductive paste used in solderless assembly for electronics technology

The paper is a follow-on of the study presented in [1] referred to the SAFE (Solderless Assembly for Electronics) process, widely known as the Occam process. [2]. One of the many key processes involved in SAFE is the additive process for realizing the conductive tracks, the interconnection structure of the electronic module. One possibility, beside the standard chemical metallization used in printed circuit boards (PCB) process, is the use of a polymer conductive paste with printing capabilities, especially developed for printed tracks [3]. In the paper there are presented quantitative investigations on the resistance and on the temperature behavior of the printed tracks, measured in climatic chamber at low current loads and also the current capabilities of the printed tracks at room temperature.