Electrically Conductive Tapes for EMI Shielding & Grounding

Electrically conductive tapes are like conductive adhesives but with additional benefits. These tapes have the advantages of conductive adhesion and facilitate efficient electrical conductivity.

“Conductive Tape is a tape with an adhesive on one or both sides that conducts electricity. It’s easy to use, as it can be cut to size and applied directly.”

3M has recently introduced their latest conductive tapes to their portfolio – the 5113 series.

The 3M™ Electrically Conductive Tape 5113 Series is a specialized tape that enhances performance. It has a conductive polyolefin Pressure Sensitive Adhesive (PSA) and conductive particle matrix.

Feature highlights:

• Isotropic XYZ-axis Conductivity: Ensures consistent electrical performance through all dimensions of the adhesive.
• Exceptional Grounding: Perfect for microelectronics with small contact areas, providing robust grounding solutions.
• High Adhesion: Delivers reliable electrical contact across various substrates, including low-surface-energy materials.
• Superior EMI Shielding: Effectively shields electromagnetic interference within bond line gaps.
• PIM Mitigation: Helps control signal interference through PIM mitigation, ensuring higher signal integrity and performance.
• Reduced Need for Primers: Reduce the need to use a primer when bonding some low-surface-energy substrates.
• Long Shelf Life: Maintains reliable and consistent performance over four years.
• High-Temperature Performance: Excels in demanding applications, sustaining performance at temperatures up to 105°C.
• Conformability: Allows precise placement in tight spaces to create EMI-sealed bond lines.
• Versatile Options: Available in single-sided and double-sided configurations to suit different application needs.

The features look promising with conductivity achieved through thickness, EMI shielding in bond line gaps, and, most importantly, a long shelf life. Long shelf life means durability and reduced tape manufacturing wastage. End-users of devices utilizing this tape can be confident that it will work as intended, even if not used immediately after purchase.

As 3M’s associate partner, we leverage the versatility of these tapes, offering double- and single-sided options.

What makes the 5113 series unique?

The Ni/Cu/Ni-coated conductive woven fabric carrier is a key component within the 3M 5113 series tape. This fabric layer is coated with nickel (Ni) and copper (Cu), where,

• Nickel (Ni): Provides corrosion resistance, strength, and conductivity.
• Copper (Cu): Enhances overall electrical conductivity, making the fabric layer more effective in shielding and grounding.

Using both metals ensures the tape has robust electrical and mechanical properties for high-performance applications.

Thereby the fabric layer acts as the backbone of the tape, enhancing its electrical conductivity and shielding capabilities. The woven fabric ensures that the tape can effectively shield against electromagnetic interference (EMI) and provide reliable grounding.

This woven fabric layer, combined with the proprietary adhesive filled with Ni-coated graphite particles, gives the 3M 5113 series superior performance for adhesion, conductivity, and environmental resistance. It’s an integral part of the tape’s structure, ensuring it delivers all its promised features.

Single-Sided and Double-Sided Electrically Conductive Tapes: Versatility for specific use-cases

3M offers two types of conductive tapes that can be used based on the requirements. Double-sided and single-sided electrically conductive tapes are ideal for EMI shielding, grounding, and bonding applications. They are designed to provide electrical continuity and grounding pathways between substrates, components, or shielded enclosures.

Double-sided electrically conductive tape 5113DFT

• Comes with conductive adhesive on both sides of the tape.
• Allows electrical conductivity through the entire thickness of the tape, enabling electrical continuity between two surfaces. 
• Idea for bonding applications where both surfaces need to be electrically connected.

Construction structure:

Single-sided electrically conductive tape 5113SFT

• Consists of a conductive backing material (like foil or conductive fabric) coated with a conductive adhesive on one side.
• Only the adhesive side conducts electricity, making them useful for grounding or shielding one surface to another.

Construction structure:

Notable common features include the following:

• Thickness: 50µm
• Adhesion to SUS (gf/inch) 24-hour dwell: 1500
• Electrical resistance through XY-axis (ETM-1): 0.1Ω
• Electrical resistance through Z-axis (ETM-11): 0.03Ω
• Short-term/long-term temperature: 121ºC/105ºC
• Shelf life: 48 months

Difference between the tapes at a glance

Key market segments

Electrically conductive tapes are widely used in several industries where EMI protection is essential, including:

• General Industrial Electronics: Ensures uninterrupted performance of machinery and electronic systems in manufacturing and industrial environments.
• Aerospace and Defense Electronics: Critical for high-reliability shielding in sensitive communication and radar systems.
• Appliances, Automotive, and IoT Devices: Enables EMI shielding in the rapidly growing field of connected devices and automotive electronic control units.
• Communications Infrastructure: Protects sensitive data transmission, networking, and telecommunications equipment components.
• Medical Equipment: Provides reliable shielding to ensure accuracy and stability in medical diagnostic and treatment devices.
• More: Applicable in any setting requiring strong EMI protection, electrical conductivity, or bonding.

Applications of 5113 conductive tape series

These tapes offer effective solutions for various EMI-related challenges across different types of electronics:

• Flex circuit to flex circuit interconnection: Ensures electrical continuity between flexible circuits.
• Camera module grounding: Provides a reliable grounding path to protect sensitive camera electronics from interference.
• Electrostatic Discharge (ESD): Shields against harmful static discharges that might damage sensitive components.
• EMI shield and gasket attachment: Provides secure attachment for shielding components and gaskets, minimizing EMI leakage.
• Shield-can lid: Replaces traditional fastening methods for attaching shield-can lids, offering grounding and EMI shielding.
• PCB/Flex/Chassis grounding: Establishes strong electrical grounding connections across various substrates.
• Bond line gap shielding: Effectively bridges gaps in bonded components to maintain EMI shielding integrity.
• Medium-pitch flexible circuits and PCBs: Ideal for shielding and grounding in mid-pitch flexible circuits and printed circuit boards (PCBs).
• PIM (Passive Intermodulation) Management: Helps manage PIM issues in communication systems, ensuring optimal signal quality.

These applications highlight the versatility of conductive tapes in solving complex grounding, shielding, and interconnection challenges in modern electronic systems. 

Engineers can access the 3M™ Electrically Conductive Tapes 5113 Series technical documentation to explore detailed specifications and connect with an expert for customized solutions designed to meet device-specific needs.

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