Conductive pastes are paints with a relatively high viscosity manufactured by mixing an organic binder (honey-like resin), an organic solvent and other additives together with metal powder. This makes it possible to accurately and effectively apply metal powder to specific substrates or elements (dielectric ceramic substrates, insulating ceramic substrates, glass substrates, plastic substrates and so on).

The paste itself does not have any conductive properties. However, conductivity can be achieved in two ways. The first is by heating the paste at a relatively low temperature (50 – 250℃) whereby a conductive path is created by decreasing the overall volume through heat curing of the organic binder and/or low-temperature metal powder sintering; and the second is by firing the paste at a relatively higher temperature that is below the melting point of the metal (350 – 1450℃) whereby the organic binder is decomposed and the metal powder is sintered . The second method provides higher conductivity.

■Precious Metal Pastes
As precious metals are stable in air, they are also stable when fired in air onto substrates, providing a distinctly better process cost performance.

■Base Metal Pastes
As base metals are unstable in air and subject to oxidization and sulfurization, they must be fired in a non-oxidizing atmosphere. Naturally, this process requires that both the elements and substrates are stable materials under similar conditions.