Method of multi-layer near-field electrohydraulic printing and sintering of nano-silver ink prepared by liquid phase reduction

• Main Authors: Tiancheng Zhang, Zhiheng Yu, Fengli Huang, Chengli Tang, Chao Yang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: AIP Publishing LLC 2021-08-01
• Series: AIP Advances
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/5.0055942

The liquid phase reduction method has a wide application prospect because of its simple equipment and low cost. However, the disadvantages, such as uneven particle size distribution and easy agglomeration of particles, make it difficult to prepare high-concentration nanoparticle ink by this method, which limits its application in the manufacture of high-resolution electronic products. This paper presents a printing and sintering process for low-concentration ink prepared by the liquid reduction method. First, the set pattern is printed by the near-field electrohydraulic printing method. At the same time as multi-layer printing, the substrate is heated by the collecting plate to accelerate the evaporation of the solvent in the printed pattern. Then, the printed multi-layer micro-conductive pattern is solidified by a hot/pressure sintering machine. This method can overcome the edge diffusion effect caused by poor ink viscosity effectively and obtain printing patterns with high thickness, high conductivity, and high resolution. The drying time of different ink layers, the pressure and temperature of hot/pressure sintering, and other parameters were studied in this paper. The electrical conductivity and reliability of the pattern with different printing layers are also analyzed, which provides a reference for the printing and sintering of low-concentration ink in the future.