New Possible Way for Brazing of Thick Film Cermet Conductors

The main aim of this work was to show a new approach in using brazing technology (hard soldering) on thick film conductors. Metallic leads and thick film conductors on alumina substrate were used to verify brazed joints. A flame and conductive heat transfer methods were used for brazing of three braze alloys such as Ag15CuP, Ag40Sn and Ag45CuZn. The tested pattern was made using silver (Ag) and silver-palladium (AgPd) thick film pastes on 96% Al2O3 substrate by screen printed technique and followed by firing process at temperature 850 °C. Nickel-silver and nickel-chromium-titanium leads were brazed on the thick film conductors with subsequent evaluation of the shear and the pull strength joints. The results of this work demonstrated very effective brazing technology on thick film conductors without usage of protective atmosphere or oven.