Selective light sintering of Aerosol-Jet printed silver nanoparticle inks on polymer substrates

Printing silver nanoparticle inks to generate conductive structures for electronics on polymer substrates has gained increasing relevance in recent years. In this context, the Aerosol-Jet Technology is well suited to print silver ink on 3D-Molded Interconnect Devices (MID). The deposited ink requires thermal post-treatment to obtain sufficient electrical conductivity and adhesion. However, commonly used oven sintering cannot be applied for many thermoplastic substrates due to low melting temperatures. In this study a new sintering technology, selective light sintering, is presented, based on the focused, continuous light beam of a xenon lamp. Sintering experiments were conducted with Aerosol-Jet printed structures on various polycarbonate (PC) substrates. Especially on neat, light transparent PC, silver tracks were evenly sintered with marginal impact to the substrate. Electrical conductivities significantly exceed the values obtained with conventional oven sintering. Adhesive strength is sufficient for conductive tracks. Experiments with non-transparent PC substrates led to substrate damage due to increased light absorption. Therefore a concept for a variation of light sintering was developed, using optical filters. First experiments showed significant reduction of substrate damage and good sintering qualities. The highly promising results of the conducted experiments provide a base for further investigations to increase adhesion and qualifying the technology for MID applications and a broad spectrum of thermoplastic substrates.