Inkjet-printed silver tracks: low temperature curing and thermal stability investigation

In this contribution the curing behavior and conductivity development of several commercially available silver inks is discussed. In addition, the preparation and characterization of a silver particle ink that shows a curing temperature as low as 80 °C is described. Good to excellent conductivity values of 5 to 56% of bulk silver have been reached by using a very small amount of organic additives without any strong adsorbing groups such as amines, amides or mercapto groups. This low curing temperature opens new routes to produce conductive features on polymeric foils that have a low Tg, like PET. Furthermore, the temperature stability of silver tracks, prepared by inkjet printing different colloidal silver suspensions, was investigated. Hereto, the resistance was on-line measured during heating of the silver tracks, from room temperature to 650 °C.