Universal requirements of electrical contact material are reliability, thermal stability, high conductivity and cost.
Are there any upcoming technologies (such as maybe graphene or nanotechnology) which can compete with traditional Ag alloys in the area of contact materials?
Also please link some useful literature.
Hi Navdeep,
You need to consider the dimensions of the contacts you are interested in. For example for interconnections within ICs themselves many materials (such as silver and copper) cannot be used as they diffuse into the IC semiconductor and insulator materials changing the properties and ruining the devices. So diffusivity would be an important characteristic! This is increasingly an issue as the size of transistors are shrunk.
Thanks guys for your comments.
Phil....you addressed very nice issue.
David.... I will certainly look into the book and try to work out my problem.
I am currently working on the technology of contact tip materials of electrical switches and MCBs. I am thinking of using graphene or any other technology. Can we do that?
This may increase the life of products and help in protecting environment.
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