PRODUCTION OF SILVER CONDUCTIVE PATHS BY LASER PROCESSING

摘要

More and more electronic applications needconductive paths on different substrates. One approachto apply these structures is by wet-chemical coatingprocesses which have been proven to be a powerfultool for producing functional layers. Printingtechniques such as inkjet show great potential due toresource-efficient, flexible and inexpensive applicationof structures. This is particularly challenging as thenecessary thermal treatment of the films often requirestemperatures that exceed the temperature stability ofthe substrate.By using laser treatment to substitute the oven processFraunhofer ILT is able to overcome those drawbacksand create silver conductive paths out ofnanoparticulate solutions on inexpensive but highlytemperature sensitive PET foil. The achievable highheating and cooling rates allow the required filmtemperatures to be reached without damaging thetemperature-sensitive substrate. Drying, sintering andeven partial melting of the nanoparticulate layers havebeen achieved by using laser radiation. Partial meltingof the layer increases the conductivity dramatically andcan reach conductivity of more than 50% of the bulkmaterial.