1. Sprout and Foundation Period (1930s to 1960s)
The birth of conductive paste is closely related to the early exploration of miniaturization and integration in the electronics industry.

Origin of Technology: Technology originated in the United States in the 1930s. Its inspiration comes from the historical ceramic glazing process, which involves using glass powder as a bonding phase, mixing it with silver powder and organic matter, and forming a conductive film on ceramics through printing and sintering. This is the prototype of thick film paste.

Industrialization began: In the 1960s, with the rapid development of the microelectronics industry, the United States ushered in a wave of industrialization of conductive pastes. ESL、 More than 20 companies, including DuPont and IBM, have started developing, manufacturing, and selling various electronic pastes, laying the foundation for the modern electronic paste industry.

Definition and standards: During this period, the three core components of conductive paste - the conductive phase that provides conductivity (such as silver and gold powder), the bonding phase that serves as an adhesive (usually glass powder), and the organic carrier that determines processing performance - were established and are still in use today.

2. Development and Transfer Period (1970s-1990s)
With the explosion of the consumer electronics market, there has been a significant shift in the technology center and industrial landscape of conductive pastes.

Japan's Rise: In the 1980s, Japan quickly caught up in pulp technology with its strong strength in the consumer electronics field, becoming the only pulp producing power that could compete with the United States. Sumitomo Metal Mining, Akira Chemical, Tanaka Precious Metals, and other companies are still giants in the global slurry industry to this day.

China started: Compared to the United States and Japan, China entered this field relatively late, starting in the late 1980s, represented by Kunming Precious Metals Research Institute and 4310 Factory. Early products mainly focused on conductor pastes with relatively low technical barriers and wide applications, such as silver paste and aluminum silver paste.

Technological upgrade: In the 1990s, in order to meet the demand for higher density and smaller line width of integrated circuits, slurry technology began to develop towards the preparation of nanoscale powders, by reducing the particle size of conductive particles to obtain finer and denser circuits.

3. Diversification and Innovation Period (21st Century to Present)
Entering the 21st century, cost and environmental protection have become the core driving forces for technological innovation, and pulp technology has presented a diversified pattern of diverse development.

Substitution of base metals: The high cost of precious metals, especially silver, has driven the development of base metal pastes such as copper paste and silver coated copper paste. Especially in the field of photovoltaics, in order to reduce the cost of electricity per kilowatt hour, "low silver" or even "silver free" is a clear trend. For example, silver coated copper paste has become the mainstream choice for heterojunction (HJT) batteries, with a market share of 75%, and the silver content of some products can be reduced to 6% -8%.

Environmental Protection: Traditional pulp uses organic solvents, which pose environmental and health risks. Replacing organic carriers with water-based carriers for "water-based slurries" has become an important research direction aimed at achieving green and environmentally friendly manufacturing.

Exploration of new materials: In addition to metals, researchers are also actively exploring composite materials of carbon based materials such as graphene and metals, utilizing their excellent electrical and thermal conductivity to further improve the performance of slurries.

The development history of conductive paste is also a history of material substitution. From expensive pure silver and gold in the early days, to the widespread use of materials such as copper and carbon today, the core driving force is to constantly pursue lower costs and higher efficiency while ensuring performance. This also explains why even copper paste with slightly inferior performance is highly sought after in large-scale applications such as photovoltaics due to its huge cost advantage.

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