Direct fabrication of conductive lines and resistors on insulator boards by laser micro-cladding electronic pastes

Abstract

The technique of laser direct writing has attracted a wide interest in the past ten years because it is a rapid and direct fabrication technique to manufacture the component prototype with micro sizes and without needing masks. Different laser direct writing methods, such as laser induced chemical vapor deposition (LCVD), laser induced electro-less plating (LEP), laser induced solid oxidation or reduction of thin metal films (LISO), laser induced forward transfer (LIFT) and Matrix Assisted Pulsed Laser Evaporation Direct Write (MAPLE DW), laser thermal spraying (LTS) as well as laser micro-cladding (LMC) have been developed to fabricate the conductive lines, electronic components, and even MEMS. However, above technologies have two shortcomings: lower deposition rates and narrow deposition ranges for the materials, which limited its industrial applications in many cases.In this report, a novel method named laser micro-cladding electronic pastes (LMCEP) was introduced. LMCEP has several advantages over other laser direct writing technologies above mentioned: the first is that the deposition rates for conductive line preparation are 2-3 grades higher than that by LCVD, LEP and the conventional LMC; the second is that the resolution rates for the conductive line preparation are much higher than that by traditional silk screen printing methods; the third is that wide range of electronic materials including the conductive lines, resistors, capacitors, sensors and even MEMS can be used as the deposition materials with high deposition rates and without mask. The main processing procedures and the parameters that determine the performances of the conductive lines and resistors by LMCEP were reported, and the concerned mechanisms were discussed.The technique of laser direct writing has attracted a wide interest in the past ten years because it is a rapid and direct fabrication technique to manufacture the component prototype with micro sizes and without needing masks. Different laser direct writing methods, such as laser induced chemical vapor deposition (LCVD), laser induced electro-less plating (LEP), laser induced solid oxidation or reduction of thin metal films (LISO), laser induced forward transfer (LIFT) and Matrix Assisted Pulsed Laser Evaporation Direct Write (MAPLE DW), laser thermal spraying (LTS) as well as laser micro-cladding (LMC) have been developed to fabricate the conductive lines, electronic components, and even MEMS. However, above technologies have two shortcomings: lower deposition rates and narrow deposition ranges for the materials, which limited its industrial applications in many cases.In this report, a novel method named laser micro-cladding electronic pastes (LMCEP) was introduced. LMCEP has several advantages over oth...