Insulated conductive particles and anisotropic conductive adhesive film using the same

1. An insulated conductive particle, comprising

a conductive particle with insulating microparticles chemically bound thereto,

wherein the insulating microparticles comprise a hard particle region and a soft functional resin region, and

wherein the soft functional resin region comprises a functional group that is chemically bound to the conductive particle.

2. The insulated conductive particle of claim 1 , wherein the conductive particle comprises a conductive metal layer coated on the surface of a polymer particle.

3. The insulated conductive particle of claim 2 , wherein the conductive particle has an average diameter of about 1 to about 20 μm, an aspect ratio of less than about 1.5 and a coefficient of variation (CV) value of about 20% or less.

4. The insulated conductive particle of claim 2 , wherein the conductive metal layer has a thickness in a range of about 0.1 μm to about 1 μm.

5. The insulated conductive particle of claim 1 , wherein the insulating microparticles have a core-shell structure, with the hard particle region comprising the core and the soft functional resin region comprising the shell.

6. The insulated conductive particle of claim 1 , wherein the hard particle region comprises a particle selected from the group consisting of an inorganic particle; a crosslinked organic polymer particle formed from 30% by weight or more, based on the total weight of the monomers, of a crosslinking monomer; and an organic/inorganic hybrid particle.

7. The insulated conductive particle of claim 6 , wherein the hard particle region comprises an inorganic particle selected from the group consisting of a silica particle, a titanium dioxide particle and a metal oxide particle.

8. The insulated conductive particle of claim 6 , wherein the hard particle region comprises a crosslinked organic polymer particle comprising a homopolymer or copolymer of one or more crosslinking monomers.

9. The insulated conductive particle of claim 8 , wherein the crossliriking monomer is polymerized by radical polymerization.

10. The insulated conductive particle of claim 8 , wherein the crosslinking monomer is selected from the group consisting of a polyacrylate monomer, a polyallyl monomer, a polyvinyl monomer and any combination thereof.

11. The insulated conductive particle of claim 10 , wherein the crosslinking monomer is a polyacrylate monomer selected from the group consisting of poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate, poly(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate, poly(propylene glycol) diacrylate, poly(propylene glycol) dimethacrylate, pentaerythritol tetraacrylate, pentaerythritol tetramethacrylate, pentaerythritol triacrylate, pentaerythritol trimethacrylate, pentaerythritol diacrylate, pentaerythritol dimethacrylate, trimethylolpropane triacrylate, trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate, dipentaerythritol hexaacrylate, dipentaerythritol hexamethacrylate, dipentaerythritol pentaacrylate, dipentaerythritol pentamethacrylate, glycerol triacrylate, glycerol trimethacrylate and any combination thereof.

12. The insulated conductive particle of claim 10 , wherein the crosslinking monomer is a polyallyl monomer selected from the group consisting of diallyl phthalate, diallylacrylamide, triallyl (iso)cyanurate, triallyl mellitate and any combination thereof.

13. The insulated conductive particle of claim 10 , wherein the crosslinking monomer is a polyvinyl monomer selected from the group consisting of divinylbenzene, 1,4-divinyloxybutane, divinylsulfone and any combination thereof.

14. The insulated conductive particle of claim 6 , wherein the hard particle region comprises a crosslinked organic polymer particle comprising a copolymer of at least one crosslinking monomer and at least one non-crosslinking monomer.

15. The insulated conductive particle of claim 14 , wherein the crosslinking monomer and the non-crosslinking monomer are polymerized by radical polymerization.

16. The insulated conductive particle of claim 14 , wherein the crosslinking monomer is selected from the group consisting of a polyacrylate monomer, a polyallyl monomer, a polyvinyl monomer and any combination thereof.

17. The insulated conductive particle of claim 16 , wherein the crosslinking monomer is a polyacrylate monomer selected from the group consisting of poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate, poly(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate, poly(propylene glycol) diacrylate, poly(propylene glycol) dimethacrylate, pentaerythritol tetraacrylate, pentaerythritol tetramethacrylate, pentaerythritol triacrylate, pentaerythritol trimethacrylate, pentaerythritol diacrylate, pentaerythritol dimethacrylate, trimethylolpropane triacrylate, trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate, dipentaerythritol hexaacrylate, dipentaerythritol hexamethacrylate, dipentaerythritol pentaacrylate, dipentaerythritol pentamethacrylate, glycerol triacrylate, glycerol trimethacrylate and any combination thereof.

18. The insulated conductive particle of claim 16 , wherein the crosslinking monomer is a polyallyl monomer selected from the group consisting of diallyl phthalate, diallylacrylamide, triallyl(iso)cyanurate, triallyl mellitate and any combination thereof.

19. The insulated conductive particle of claim 16 , wherein the crosslinking monomer is a polyvinyl monomer selected from the group consisting of divinylbenzene, 1,4-divinyloxybutane, divinylsulfone and any combination thereof.

20. The insulated conductive particle of claim 14 , wherein the non-crosslinking monomer is selected from the group consisting of an monoacrylate monomer, a vinyl monomer and any combination thereof.

21. The insulated conductive particle of claim 20 , wherein the non-crosslinking monomer is an acrylate selected from the group consisting of methyl acrylate, methyl methacrylate, ethyl acrylate, ethyl methacrylate, propyl acrylate, propyl methacrylate, n-butyl acrylate, n-butyl methacrylate, isobutyl acrylate, isobutyl methacrylate, t-butyl acrylate, t-butyl methacrylate, 2-ethyl hexyl acrylate, 2-ethyl hexyl methacrylate, n-octyl acrylate, n-octyl methacrylate, lauryl acrylate, lauryl methacrylate, stearyl acrylate, stearyl methacrylate and any combination thereof.

22. The insulated conductive particle of claim 20 , wherein the non-crosslinking monomer is a vinyl monomer selected from the group consisting of styrene, a-methyl styrene, m-chloromethyl styrene, ethylvinyl benzene, vinylchloride, vinyl acetate, vinyl ether, vinyl proprionate, vinyl butyrate and any combination thereof.

23. The insulated conductive particle of claim 1 , wherein the soft functional resin region comprises a linear organic polymer resin comprising a functional group that is chemically bound to the conductive particle.

24. The insulated conductive particle of claim 23 , wherein the functional group is selected from the group consisting of carboxyl, hydroxyl, glycol, aldehyde, oxazoline, silane, silanol, amine, ammonium, amide, imide, nitro, nitrile, pyrrolidone, thiol, sulfonic acid, sulfonium, sulfide and isocyanate groups.

25. The insulated conductive particle of claim 23 , further comprising a functional monomer.

26. The insulated conductive particle of claim 25 , wherein the functional monomer is selected from the group consisting of acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, maleic acid, itaconic acid, 2-hydoxyethyl acrylate, 2-hydoxyethyl methacrylate, hydroxypropyl acrylate, hydroxypropyl methacrylate, hydroxybutyl acrylate, hydroxybutyl methacrylate, polyethylene glycol acrylate, polyethylene glycol methacrylate, methoxypolyethylene glycol acrylate, methoxypolyethylene glycol methacrylate, glycidyl acrylate, glycidyl methacrylate, dimethylaminoethyl acrylate, dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate, allyl glycidyl ether, 2-isopropenyl-2-oxazoline, diethylaminoethyl acrylate, diethylaminoethyl methacrylate, alkylacrylamide, alkylmethacrylamide, 4-vinylpyridine, N-methylol acrylamide, dimethylaminopropyl acrylamide, dimethylaminopropyl methacrylamide, acryloyl chloride, methacryloyl chloride, acrylonitrile, methacrylonitrile, styrene sulfonic acid, sodium styrene sulfonate, sulfonic acid derivatives and any combination thereof.

27. The insulated conductive particle of claim 1 , wherein the soft functional resin region comprises a non-crosslinking monomer and crosslinking monomer, wherein the crosslinking monomer is present in an amount in a range of about 0.5% to about 15% by weight, based on the total weight of the monomers.

28. The insulated conductive particle of claim 27 , wherein the functional group is selected from the group consisting of carboxyl, hydroxyl, glycol, aldehyde, oxazoline, silane, silanol, amine, ammonium, amide, imide, nitro, nitrile, pyrrolidone, thiol, sulfonic acid, sulfonium, sulfide and isocyanate groups.

29. The insulated conductive particle of claim 27 , further comprising a functional monomer.

30. The insulated conductive particle of claim 29 , wherein the functional monomer is selected from the group consisting of acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, maleic acid, itaconic acid, 2-hydoxyethyl acrylate, 2-hydoxyethyl methacrylate, hydroxypropyl acrylate, hydroxypropyl methacrylate, hydroxybutyl acrylate, hydroxybutyl methacrylate, polyethylene glycol acrylate, polyethylene glycol methacrylate, methoxypolyethylene glycol acrylate, methoxypolyethyl ene glycol methacrylate, glycidyl acrylate, glycidyl methacrylate, dimethylaminoethyl acrylate, dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate, allyl glycidyl ether, 2-isopropenyl-2-oxazoline, diethylaminoethyl acrylate, diethylaminoethyl methacrylate, alkylacrylamide, alkylmethacrylamide, 4-vinylpyridine, N-methylol acrylamide, dimethylaminopropyl acrylamide, dimethylaminopropyl methacrylamide, acryloyl chloride, methacryloyl chloride, acrylonitrile, methacrylonitrile, styrene sulfonic acid, sodium styrene sulfonate, sulfonic acid derivatives and any combination thereof.

31. The insulated conductive particle of claim 1 , wherein the insulating microparticles are chemically bound to the conductive particle by physical/mechanical hybridization.

32. The insulated conductive particle of claim 1 , wherein the insulating microparticles have an aspect ratio of less than about 1.5 and a CV value of about 30% or less.

33. The insulated conductive particle of claim 1 , wherein the insulating microparticles have an immobilization density of about 40% or more.

34. The insulated conductive particle of claim 1 , wherein the ratio of the average diameter of the insulating microparticles to the average diameter of the conductive particle is in a range of about 0.01:1 to about 0.5:1.

35. An anisotropic adhesive film comprising

an insulated conductive particle, comprising a conductive particle with insulating microparticles chemically bound thereto, wherein the insulating microparticles comprise a hard particle region and a soft functional resin region, and wherein the soft functional resin region comprises a functional group that is chemically bound to the conductive particle; and

wherein when the adhesive film is pressed, the insulating microparticles that are present in the pressurizing direction are removed from the surface of the conductive particle, thereby exposing the conductive surface of the conductive particle and achieving electrical connection in the pressurizing direction while maintaining insulation in the direction perpendicular to the pressurizing direction.

36. The anisotropic adhesive film of claim 35 , wherein the insulated conductive particle is present in the film at a weight percent in a range of about 0.1 to about 30%.

37. An electrical connection structure comprising the anisotropic adhesive film of claim 35 interposed between a pair of substrates facing each other.