NanoPierce Connection Systems (NCS) is an emerging technology for electrically and thermally conductive joining of metal surfaces. It involves embedding miniscule particles of diamond dust in a conductive nickel layer plated onto a metal surface such as an IC bond pad. The result is a very rough conductive surface, similar to sandpaper. The hard, sharp particles will penetrate the mating substrate contact surface, displacing oxide films and even adhesives to provide conductive paths between the contact surfaces and their corresponding substrate pads.

The plated contact surface can, for example, be easily joined to another conducting surface of any type by nonconductive adhesive, resulting in a connection that is mechanically robust, chemically inert, and inherently electrically conductive, with improved thermal conductivity.

This paper describes a novel manufacturing process to make NCS surfaces, which are readily available for flip-chip applications. The process consists of a modified two-step electroless metal plating process. The innovative method is able to deposit metal and non-conductive particles of any type, and with a wide range of density and sizes, on electrically isolated contact surfaces, and can be adjusted to provide broad surface area coverage in desirable single-layered particle deposition patterns.

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