No CrossRef data available.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 April 2019
All-printed electronics is the key technology to ultra-low-cost, large-area electronics. As a critical step in this direction, we demonstrate that femtosecond laser processing (sintering and ablation) of solution deposited metal nanoparticles enables direct metal patterning at low-temperature with ultra high resolution (∼300nm) to overcome the resolution limitation of the current inkjet direct writing processes.
This could be explained by the combined effects of novel properties of metal nanoparticles such as melting temperature drop, strong absorption of the incident laser beam at surface plasmon mode, lower conductive heat transfer loss, and the relatively weak bonding between nanoparticles. Local thermal control of the laser sintering process could minimize the heat-affected zone and the thermal damage to the substrate and further enhance the resolution of the process. This local nanoparticle deposition and energy coupling enable an environmentally friendly and cost-effective process as well as a low-temperature manufacturing sequence to realize large-area, flexible electronics on polymer substrates.