Sigmoidal Chemorheological Models of Chip-Underfill Materials Offer Alternative Predictions of Combined Cure and Flow

Abstract

Prior rheology results on chip-underfill epoxy resins have been re-analyzed by a sigmoidal model that contains three variable physical parameters, including the terminal cured viscosity of the gel, an induction or dwell time and a time factor associated with the speed of conversion as viscosity undergoes large dynamic changes during rapid crosslinking. The analyses were conducted with resins that were originally cured between 150 and 180 °C and show obvious non-linearity, even on a semi-log plot of dynamic viscosity. The sigmoidal models more accurately represent a wider range of dynamic viscosity than power-law-based rheological models, which are both more common and more generally accepted for practical application. If total flow is the critical design parameter in terms of chip underfill, perhaps these alternative sigmoidal models need to be more thoroughly evaluated to gauge their practical use and validity.