Patent Grant
7231706
The present invention relates to a production method of an anisotropic conductive film and an anisotropic conductive film produced by this method.
Anisotropic conductive films have been widely used in the electronic industry as a connector for testing semiconductor devices and circuit boards, a connector of circuits between boards, a material for mounting a semiconductor device on a circuit board and the like. A known anisotropic conductive film is formed by dispersing conductive particles in a film made from an adhesive insulating resin. However, this anisotropic conductive film is subject to restriction because a fine pitch connection is difficult to achieve and a convex terminal (e.g., bump contact) is required as a connection terminal of a semiconductor element.
To solve this problem, the Applicant proposed, in WO98/07216 etc., an anisotropic conductive film having plural conductive paths insulated from each other and penetrating an insulating film substrate in the thickness direction of the film substrate. The proposed anisotropic conductive film contains plural conductive paths with both ends exposed on the surface of the film substrate made from an insulating resin, and, of these plural conductive paths, those located at the positions allowing contact with the termini of an object to be electrically conducted afford electrical continuity with this object.
However, a close study of the physical properties and the connection state of the connection mate of the anisotropic conductive film proposed above has revealed that the conductive path (metal conductor) in the film has a density higher than necessary, making the film hard to deform, which in turn tends to lower the follow-up property of the film to the connection target (particularly in the case of testing connectors, the degraded follow-up property of the film to the test target sometimes necessitates hard pressing of the film with a high pressure to bring a conductive path in contact with a terminal (electrode) of the test target), and that the density of the conductive path (metal conductor), which is higher than necessary, makes the amount of the insulating resin insufficient to provide an adhesive property when used as a material for mounting, thereby preventing sufficiently high adhesion to an object to be connected.
The above-mentioned conventional anisotropic conductive film is produced by winding plural insulated wires (metal conductor wires having a coating layer made from an insulating resin) around a core member to give a multi-layer roll with the insulated wires densely packed both in the longitudinal direction and the transverse direction, adhering coating layers to make the densely packed insulated wires inseparable, and slicing each insulated wire along the plane forming an angle with the wire section to give a film having a conductive path made of the metal conductor wires. By making thicker the coating layer of the insulated wire to be wound around the core member, the interval of the metal conductor wires (conductive paths) can be widened, which in turn lowers the density of the conductive paths in the film to some degree. While the coating layer can be made thick by repeat coating the metal conductor wires with an insulating resin, the cost necessary for this step is not small at all and the step is impractical. In addition, it is not that the thickness of the coating layer can be increased to any desired level, and the interval of the metal conductor wires (conductive paths) cannot be widened sufficiently. On the other hand, a comparatively large clearance may be formed between adjacent insulated wires when bundling the plural insulated wires and the coating layer of the insulated wires may be melted to widen the interval of the metal conductors. In this case, however, unnecessary voids are formed between the metal conductor wires in the film, thus lowering the strength of the film to the extent that it is not practicable.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a production method of an anisotropic conductive film, which is capable of sufficiently widening the interval (pitch) of the centers of conductive paths without forming unnecessary voids in the film.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide an anisotropic conductive film, which has a sufficient strength and deformability, which shows fine follow-up property to an object to be connected, which is capable of connecting a conductive path to a terminal (electrode) of a test object with a low pressure, when used for testing connectors, and which can form a highly reliable electrical connection by firmly adhering to an object to be connected, when used as a mounting material.
It has been also found that an anisotropic conductive film free of unnecessary voids in the film, having a sufficiently large pitch of conductive paths (metal conductors), and having a decreased density of the conductive paths can be obtained by forming a laminate comprising alternate layers of a winding layer comprising a single row of insulated wires, and an insulating resin film, which laminate being made by placing an insulating resin film on the winding layer comprising the insulated wire wound around a core member, and cutting this laminate to give a film.
Accordingly, the present invention provides the following.
In the following, the present invention is explained in detail be referring to the Figures.
The production method of the anisotropic conductive film of the present invention is explained by referring to
The production method of the anisotropic conductive film of the present invention comprises at least the following steps (a) to (c).
As shown in this Figure, the anisotropic conductive film of the present invention consists of band areas A and band areas B made from a second insulating resin layer 1b without conductive paths, wherein the band area A comprises a first insulating resin layer 1a and plural conductive paths 2 that are insulated from each other, arranged in one row in the first insulating resin layer 1a and penetrate the layer 1a in the thickness direction, and the areas A and B are alternately arranged (melt-adhered) to form a film, and the rows of conductive paths 2 disposed in the plural band areas A run in a parallel relationship.
The first insulating resin layer 1a of the band area A is formed by the coating layer 12 (see
The width of the above-mentioned band areas A, B and the arrangement interval of the conductive paths vary depending on the thermal fluidity of coating layer 12 of the insulated wire 13 and insulating resin film 15, the pressure for integrating the winding layer 14 of the insulated wire 13 and the insulating resin film 15 and the like. Therefore, the thickness of the coating layer 12 of the insulated wire 13 and the thickness of the insulating resin film 15 are set to achieve the desired width and interval, taking such variation factors into consideration.
With regard to the anisotropic conductive film obtained by the production method of the present invention, the arrangement interval (pitch) of the conductive paths 2 in the film in at least one direction (Y direction in
The anisotropic conductive film as shown in the above-mentioned
As shown in
In addition, an embodiment combining the above-mentioned
In the present invention, the metal conductor wire 11 (i.e., conductive path 2) constituting the insulated wire 13 can be preferably a metal wire made from at least one member selected from various known metal wires, such as gold, copper, aluminum, stainless, nickel and the like, from the aspect of electroconductivity. In addition, the sectional shape of the metal conductor wire 11 (conductive path 2) may be circular, polygonal or of other shape, which is generally circular. The wire diameter (outer diameter) of the metal conductor wire 11 (conductive path 2), in the case of a circular section, is generally 5–200 μm, preferably 10–80 μm. When it is polygonal or of other shape, the outer diameter is such that the diameter thereof affords the area within the above-mentioned range.
The wire diameter of the metal conductor wire 11 (conductive path 2) is preferably narrower in view of connection to a fine pitch electrode, but too fine a pitch degrades the handling property during winding. In addition, when the wire diameter is large, the resistance of the conductive path 2 can be advantageously reduced when the anisotropic conductive film is applied to a connection system where a high current flows, but too large a diameter may produce voids during integration of insulating resin film 15 and the winding layer 14 of the insulated wire. When the wire diameter of the metal conductor wire 11 falls within the above-mentioned range, the advantageous aspects as mentioned above are noticeably observed, suppressing disadvantageous aspects.
The coating layer 12 to cover the metal conductor wire 11 (first insulating resin layer 1a of band area A) may be made from a thermoplastic or thermosetting resin, such as polyimide resin, epoxy resin, polyetherimide resin, polyamide resin, phenoxy resin, acrylic resin, polycarbodiimide resin, fluorocarbon resin, polyester resin, polyurethane resin, polyamideimide resin and the like. This coating layer is preferably a thermoplastic resin that shows adhesive property by heating or by heating and pressurizing.
The thickness of this coating layer 12 is generally 0.5–20 μm, preferably 1–15 μm.
The insulated wire 13 can be wound around a core member 20 by a known technique for producing an electromagnetic coil, such as relay, transformer and the like. It is also possible to apply a spindle method including revolving the core member, a flyer method including circling of the wire or other method.
The insulating resin film 15 (i.e., second insulating resin layer 1b of band area B of anisotropic conductive film) may be any as long as it affords self-supporting property as a film, and it can adhere to the insulated wire 13 by heat melting. Examples thereof include a film made from a thermoplastic or thermosetting resin, such as polyimide resin, epoxy resin, polyetherimide resin, polyamide resin, phenoxy resin, acrylic resin, polycarbodiimide resin, fluorocarbon resin, polyester resin, polyurethane resin, polyamideimide resin and the like. This film may be made from a single resin or a mixture of two or more resins. Particularly, thermoplastic polyimide film, polycarbodiimide film, polyester resin film, thermosetting resin film containing an epoxy resin and the like are preferable. The same kind of resin as the coating layer 12 of insulated wire 13 is preferable, in view of the adhesive property between the two and the physical properties of the anisotropic conductive film.
This film may be made from a thermoplastic or a thermosetting resin according to a known method, such as casting method and the like, or may be a commercially available film.
While the film generally has a single-layer structure, it may have a multilayer structure when the anisotropic conductive film of the present invention is used for test purposes. When the film has a multilayer structure, a resin coating is generally formed on one surface or both surfaces of the film to be a substrate by coating and the like to afford a multilayer structure. When the film has a multilayer structure, the outermost layer of a resin coating of at least one layer on the side, which comes into contact with the insulated wire 13, is preferably made from a resin that melts and adheres at a temperature at which the substrate film does not soften. Particularly preferably, the outermost layer of a resin coating of at least one side of the multilayer structure film, which comes into contact with the insulated wire 13, is made from a resin having a softening point lower than the softening point of the substrate film by 20° C. or more. When the softening point of the outermost layer of a resin coating on one side or both sides, which comes into contact with the insulated wire, is the same as that of the substrate film or a temperature near this softening point, the fluidity control of the resin becomes difficult after heating the film to soften and flow, and integrating with insulated wire, and the pitch of the metal conductor wires (conductive paths) may become inconsistent, thereby unnecessarily making the pitch grow in some part.
As the substrate film, a resin film made from polyamide (nylon), polyester, polyimide, polyetherimide and the like, having resistance to heat of at least 100° C. (not softened at a temperature of not more than 100° C.), is preferable. The resin coating of the outermost layer of at least one side that comes into contact with insulated wire 13 is preferably made from a thermosetting epoxy resin composition.
As used herein, by the softening temperature is meant a temperature at which changes in the shrinkage reach the maximum, as determined by thermomechanical analysis (TMA) by measuring the displacement amount at 10° C./min with a load of 1 g/mm.
The thickness of the insulating resin film 15 is generally about 10–1000 μm, preferably about 10 μm–500 μm.
The cutting tool (apparatus) 17 to slice the laminate 16, which is obtained by integrating the winding layer 14 of the insulated wire 13 and the insulating resin film 15, is not particularly limited and can be any as long as it can slice a metal conductor wire and the slicing object into films. For example, a wire saw, a dicer and the like can be used.
In the anisotropic conductive film of the present invention, the arrangement interval of the conductive paths 2 in the arrangement direction of the band area A and the band area B (interval in Y direction in
Depending on the arrangement interval of conductive paths 2 arranged in one row in the band area A (interval in X direction in
The arrangement interval of the conductive paths 2 when closely packed in one row in the band area A (distance between the centers of the conductive paths 2) is generally 1.1–2.5 times, particularly preferably 1.5–2 times, the diameter of the conductive path.
When the insulated wires 13 are densely arranged in one row and wound at an interval of the conductive paths 2 (distance between the centers of conductive paths 2) in the band area A of preferably 1.1–2.5 times, particularly preferably 1.5–2 times, the diameter of the conductive path, a relatively hard anisotropic conductive film can be obtained (
The arrangement state of the conductive paths 2 can be achieved by determining the diameter of the metal conductor wire 11 in the insulated wire 13, the thickness of the coating layer 12 and the thickness of the insulating resin film 15, adjusting the winding state of the winding layer 14 containing the insulated wires 13 (i.e., interval of insulated wires 13 in the winding layer 14 and winding positions of insulated wires 13 between winding layers 14 to be laminated), and heating the laminate 16 comprising winding layers 14 containing the insulated wires 13 and the insulating resin films 15, generally at 70–250° C., preferably 80–210° C., or, concurrently with the heating, pressurizing the laminate 16 at a pressure of generally 0.49–2.94 MPa, preferably 0.78–2.45 MPa, in consideration of the thermal properties (e.g., thermal fluidity etc.), adhesive property and the like of the coating layer 12 and the insulating resin film 15.
The anisotropic conductive film of the present invention has a thickness that is subject to change. It is generally 20–500 μm, preferably 50–200 μm.
The anisotropic conductive film of the present invention is prepared to have an elastic modulus of generally 0.01–6 GPa. When it is used for testing connectors, the film is preferably adjusted to have an elastic modulus of 0.01–2 GPa, preferably 0.01–1.5 GPa. An elastic modulus in this range makes the follow-up property to the irregularity, warp and the like of the object to be connected extremely fine, and the film can certainly connect a conductive path to a terminal (electrode) of a test object with a low pressure of about 9.8–294 mN (preferably 9.8–147 mN) per 1 terminal.
When it is used as a material for mounting, the film has an elastic modulus of 0.5–6 GPa, preferably 1–5 GPa. For use as a material for mounting, the coefficient of linear expansion is preferably made to be close to that of the chip to be connected. For this end, a filler such as silica and the like may be added to the resin. The addition of a filler generally results in an increased elastic modulus, but since the film has a small volume ratio of the conductive path, the elastic modulus does not increase to an unnecessary level but is set in a range suitable to not impair the workability mentioned above. In the connection interface, a decrease in the volume ratio of the conductive path increases the follow-up property to the object to be connected, and increases the adhesion area of the object to be connected. Thus, a highly reliable electrical connection can be formed.
The anisotropic conductive film of the present invention may be subjected to a post-treatment and the like for protruding the end of a conductive path from the film surface. Examples of such treatment include selective etching wherein the first insulating resin layer 1a and second insulating resin layer 1b (coating layer 12 of insulated wire 13, insulating resin film 15) are etched but the conductive path 2 (metal conductor wire 11 of insulated wire 13) is not, and the like. In this case, the amount of protrusion from the end of the conductive path 2 is generally 10–80 μm, preferably 10–50 μm.
The present invention is explained in more detail in the following by referring to Examples and Comparative Examples, which do not limit the present invention in any way.
A polyester (manufactured by Toray Industries, Inc., Hytrel (trademark), softening temperature 204° C.) was applied to a Cu thin wire (diameter 18 μm) in a thickness of 4 μm, and the wire was wound to form a single roll layer around a core member (section: 180 mm×180 mm square prism) without forming a space between wires. A 100 μm thick fluorocarbon/acrylic film (manufactured by Denki Kagaku Kogyo K. K., DENKA DX-14™, softening temperature 150° C., elastic modulus 1.3 GPa) was layered on the single roll layer. This process was repeated to give a laminate alternately comprising 50 layers of a winding layer comprising Cu thin wires having a coating layer made from a polyester resin in one row and a fluorocarbon/acrylic film layer. The Cu thin wire of the winding layer was wound while changing the winding position between the odd-numbered winding layers and the even-numbered winding layers in the longitudinal direction of the core member in a closest packing state. This laminate was heated and pressurized at 150° C., 1.96 MPa to give a block (polyester did not soften or flow, but only the fluorocarbon/acrylic film did). The core member was removed and this block was sliced with a wire saw along the plane forming an angle with the Cu thin wire to give a 100 μm thick anisotropic conductive film. During the production of this anisotropic conductive film, the arrangement interval of the conductive paths in the direction corresponding to the laminating direction of the winding layer containing Cu thin wires and the fluorocarbon/acrylic film (Y direction in
This anisotropic conductive film was placed between a semiconductor element and a circuit board. A contact load was applied and the minimum load necessary for complete conduction of all the electrodes in the semiconductor element was measured. As a result, the contact load per electrode was 98 mN, and the electrode was free of deformation.
A polycarbodiimide resin (obtained by polymerizing 2,2-dimethyl-1,3-bis(4-aminophenoxy)propane (40 g), 3-methyl-1-phenyl-2-phospholene-1-oxide (1.14 g) and p-isopropylphenylisocyanate (2.19 g) in toluene at 80° C. for 2 hr, softening temperature 100° C.) was applied to a Cu thin wire (diameter 18 μm) in a thickness of 7.5 μm, and the wire was wound around the same core prism as used in Example 1 to form a single roll layer without forming a space between the wires. A 50 μm thick thermosetting epoxy film (softening temperature 100 ° C., elastic modulus 2 GPa) was applied on the single roll layer, which process was repeated to give a laminate alternately comprising 100 layers of a winding layer comprising Cu thin wires having a coating layer made from a polycarbodiimide resin in one row and an epoxy film layer. The thermosetting epoxy film used here was obtained by reacting a bisphenol A type epoxy resin with an acid anhydride hardener and a carboxyl group-containing liquid rubber for a predetermined time to make the resin in a B-stage, and forming the B-stage resin into a film (specifically, Epikote 827 (trademark, 100 g) manufactured by Yuka Shell Epoxy Kabushiki Kaisha, methylhexahydrophthalic anhydride (144 g) and CTBN modified epoxy resin (100 g, manufactured by TOTO KASEI CO., LTD., YR450 (trademark) were reacted at 50° C. for 5 hr). The Cu thin wire of the winding layer was wound while changing the winding position between the odd-numbered winding layers and the even-numbered winding layers in the longitudinal direction of the core member in a closest packing state. This laminate was heated and pressurized at 160° C., 1.96 MPa to give a block (both-polycarbodiimide resin and thermosetting epoxy resin film softened and flew). The core member was removed and this block was sliced with a wire saw along the plane forming an angle with the Cu thin wire to give a 50 μm thick anisotropic conductive film. During the production of this anisotropic conductive film, the arrangement interval of the conductive paths in the direction corresponding to the laminating direction of the winding layer containing Cu thin wires and the. epoxy film (Y direction in
This anisotropic conductive film was placed between a 3 mm□ Si chip and FR-4 board (a glass epoxy board for printed wiring board as defined in National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA)) to adhere them, and a shearing adhesion was measured to find to be 15 MPa. Further, a semiconductor element and a circuit board were connected using this anisotropic conductive film. This film was subjected to a TCT test (−55° C. to 125° C.). As a result, the film maintained the initial resistance value up to 1000 cycles.
An amideimide resin (softening temperature 170° C.) was applied to a Cu thin wire (diameter 18 μm) in a thickness of 3 μm, and the wire was wound around the same core member as used in Example 1 to form a single roll layer at a 48 μm interval. A 150 μm thick polycarbodiimide resin film (softening temperature 100° C.) was applied on the single roll layer, which process was repeated to give a laminate alternately comprising 100 layers of a winding layer comprising Cu thin wires having a coating layer made from an amideimide resin in one row and a polycarbodiimide resin film. All the Cu thin wire in the winding layers were wound such that the winding position of each Cu thin wire comes to the same position in the longitudinal direction of the core member. This laminate was made into a block under the conditions of 140° C., 1.96 MPa (polycarbodiimide resin alone softened and flew). The core member was removed and this block was sliced with a wire saw along the plane forming an angle with the Cu thin wire to give a 70 μm thick anisotropic conductive film. During the production of this anisotropic conductive film, the arrangement interval of the conductive paths in the direction corresponding to the laminating direction of the winding layer containing Cu thin wires and the polycarbodiimide film (Y direction in
This film was placed between a 3 mm□ Si chip and FR-4 board to adhere them, and a shearing adhesion was measured to find to be 20 MPa. Further, a semiconductor element and a circuit board were connected using this anisotropic conductive film. This film was subjected to a TCT test (−55° C. to 125° C.). As a result, the film maintained the initial resistance value up to 1000 cycles.
In the same manner as in Example 1 except that a nylon film was not inserted between winding layers, an anisotropic conductive film was prepared. During the production of this anisotropic conductive film, the arrangement interval of the conductive paths in the direction corresponding to the laminating direction of the winding layer containing Cu thin wires was 23 μm, which was about 1.3 times the diameter of the conductive path (Cu thin wire), and the arrangement interval of the conductive paths in the direction corresponding to the winding direction of the Cu thin wires was 23 μm, which was about 1.3 times the diameter of the conductive path (Cu thin wire).
This anisotropic conductive film was placed between a semiconductor element and a circuit board to connect them. A contact load was applied and the minimum load necessary for complete conduction of all the electrodes in the semiconductor element was measured. As a result, the contact load per electrode was 588 mN, and the electrode was greatly deformed.
In the same manner as in Example 2 except that an epoxy resin film was not inserted between winding layers, an anisotropic conductive film was prepared. During the production of this anisotropic conductive film, the arrangement interval of the conductive paths in the direction corresponding to the laminating direction of the winding layer containing Cu thin wires was 29 μm, which was about 1.6 times the diameter of the conductive path (Cu thin wire), and the arrangement interval of the conductive paths in the direction corresponding to the winding direction of the Cu thin wires was 29 μm, which was about 1.6 times the diameter of the conductive path (Cu thin wire). This film was placed between a 3 mm□ Si chip and FR-4 board to adhere them, and a shearing adhesion was measured to find to be 5 MPa. Further, a semiconductor element and a circuit board were connected using this anisotropic conductive film. This film was subjected to a TCT test (−55° C. to 125° C.). As a result, the film maintained the initial resistance value only up to 300 cycles.
As is evident from the foregoing explanation, the present invention enables production of an anisotropic conductive film having a sufficiently widened arrangement interval of conductive paths at a low cost without forming unnecessary voids in the film.
The anisotropic conductive film of the present invention has a sufficient strength and deformability, shows fine follow-up property to an object to be connected, is capable of connecting a conductive path to a terminal (electrode) of a test object with a low pressure, when used for testing connectors, and can form a highly reliable electrical connection by firmly adhering to an object to be connected, when used as a mounting material.
This application is based on application No. 2000-117039 filed in Japan, the contents of which are incorporated hereinto by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000/117039 | Apr 2000 | JP | national |
This patent application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/837,411, filed Apr. 18, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,566,608.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20030201118 A1 | Oct 2003 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 09837411 | Apr 2001 | US |
| Child | 10406546 | US |
