New PELCO High Performance Conductive Pastes
Ted Pella, Inc. has announced the availability of three types of newly developed high-performance conductive pastes for high-temperature and cryo-applications. The new pastes have been developed to overcome limitations of the traditional conductive carbon and silver pastes available for standard SEM applications.
The PELCO High Performance Conductive Pastes consist of either silver, nickel or carbon particles in up to 60% concentration in an inorganic silicate aqueous solution which does not contain hydrocarbons. These products are highly suitable for demanding specimen preparation applications for FESEM, XPS, ESCA, SIMS, Auger, and cementing contact wires on substrates. The absence of hydrocarbons means that there is no outgassing of VOCs in high vacuum and hence no contamination. The pastes are fully compatible with ultrahigh vacuum applications and can be used at temperatures up to 2000°C (graphite).
The PELCO High Performance Paste comes in three different versions:
- Silver paste for best conductivity, excellent bonding, cryo compatible and for temperatures up 925°C
- Carbon paste for use where metal particles would present a problem and for high temperatures up to 2000°C
- Nickel paste is a cost-effective solution for medium conductivity, and is cryo-compatible for temperatures up to 500°C.
The curing temperature of the pastes is at 93°C and as long as the pastes have not been exposed to temperatures over 260°C they are soluble in water, which allows for de-bonding the specimen and removing the paste. The unique combination of high electrical conductivity (0.08Ω/sq), high thermal conductivity, no VOCs and good bonding properties to most materials makes the PELCO High Performance Silver Paste one of the most versatile conductive pastes available on the market today.
