Ink‐jet Printing and Microwave Sintering of Conductive Silver Tracks

Abstract

Printing techniques, such as ink-jet printing, are interesting alternatives to conventional photolithography for the production of electronic devices. The advantages of printing include the ease of mass production, low cost, and flexibility. Compared to other printing techniques (e.g., screen printing), ink-jet printing does not offer the same production speed. However, the unprecedented flexibility of ink-jet printing makes it very well suited for rapid prototyping applications. In addition, it allows the use of inviscid fluids, such as dilute polymer solutions or suspensions without added binders. A typical application involves the ink-jet printing of conductive tracks, for example, by using inks based on (in)organic silver or copper precursors. The precursor is reduced to the corresponding metal via a post-printing thermal annealing step. In most cases, however, the ink is a dispersion of noble-metal nanoparticles, usually silver or gold. A sintering step is necessary to render the tracks conductive. The use of nanoparticles reduces the sintering temperature due to their high surface to volume ratio. In the past, two different techniques have been used to sinter printed nanoparticle structures. Conventional radiation– conduction–convection heating is the most commonly used method, wherein the sintering temperatures are typically above 200 °C. Therefore many potentially interesting substrate materials, such as thermoplastic polymers or paper, cannot be used. In fact, one of the very few, if not the only organic substrate that can be used is (expensive) polyimide (PI). The long sintering times required—usually 60 min or more— also imply that the technique is not feasible for fast industrial production. As an alternative, a laser sintering method was developed. The laser follows the conductive tracks and sinters these selectively, without affecting the substrate. However, this method is costly and complex from a technical point of view. Thus, there is a clear need for a fast, simple, and costeffective technique that would allow the sintering of the printed structures by the selective heating of only the printed components. Microwave heating fulfills these requirements. Microwave heating is widely used for the sintering of dielectric materials and in synthetic chemistry. It offers advantages such as uniform, fast, and volumetric heating. Microwave radiation is absorbed due to coupling with charge carriers or rotating dipoles. The absorbed power per unit volume P is,