Conference Program - LOPE-C 2011
Conference Program - LOPE-C 2011
Conference Program - LOPE-C 2011
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
SCIENTIFIC CONF. | THURSDAY-JUNE 30, <strong>2011</strong><br />
Track 5<br />
Sintering of Inorganic Materials (02:30 pm - 04:00 pm) | LOCATION HARMONIE E / LEVEL C2<br />
03:00 pm Conductivity and Adhesion Study of Plasma-sintered Nanoparticle Silver Ink<br />
Mr Juha Niittynen,<br />
Tampere University of Technology, Researcher, Finland<br />
Electronics manufacturing industry is looking for a supplement for the traditional manufacturing technology to meet the new demands of the electronics markets. In recent<br />
years inkjet-printing has been considered as one of the most promising alternatives. The main advantage of inkjet-printing over conventional production technologies is that<br />
it is a completely additive and digitally controlled manufacturing process. Additive processing enables material savings, whereas a digital process control enables easy<br />
product customization and rapid prototyping. However, inkjet-printing has some challenges that need to be resolved before the technology is ready for a large-scale<br />
manufacturing. One of the most serious challenges is the high production cost of inkjet-printing compared to other manufacturing technologies. Amongst the factors causing<br />
high production costs are expensive high-temperature plastic substrates, which are currently needed because of the high sintering temperature of nanoparticle inks.<br />
Low-temperature sintering techniques may lower production costs as they enable the use of cheaper low-temperature plastic substrates.<br />
Plasma sintering is one of the alternatives for low-temperature sintering and it has been used to sinter nanoparticle inks without damaging the thermal-sensitive substrate<br />
material. Test structures were inkjet-printed using a silver nanoparticle ink (Harima) and sintered using a low pressure plasma exposure in order to evaluate the feasibility of<br />
plasma-sintering in the electronics manufacturing. Conductivity and adhesion tests were conducted and were compared to thermally-sintered reference samples.<br />
The study showed that adequate conductivity can be achieved with plasma-sintering. However, the adhesion is inferior to thermally-sintered samples. In this case low<br />
adhesion means that the conductive structures are more susceptible for mechanical damage and, therefore, have a lower reliability, which is an essential factor for today?s<br />
electronics. Therefore, the mechanisms to improve adhesion of plasma-sintering, for example by a surface treatment prior printing, must be investigated in future in order to<br />
use it in large-scale electronics manufacturing.<br />
page 105