Conductive inks printing through laser-induced forward transfer

Abstract

The laser-induced forward transfer of silver nanoparticle ink with long laser pulse duration (120 ns) was investigated in this work. The feasibility of the technique for printing patterns was proven. The study focuses on the analysis of the deposition of droplets and transfer dynamics. Several droplets were printed at different laser pulse energies, showing a radius-energy linear dependence. However, the volume-energy dependence was non-monotonous, increasing at low energies and staying fairly constant at high ones. A time-resolved study of the transfer dynamics showed four stages during the transfer process: bubble expansion, bubble burst, jet formation and deposition, which always occur independently of the energy. A feasibility test was also carried out to prove the functionality of printed lines as interconnects in electronic circuits