EUROPEAN CONGRESS AND EXHIBITION ON ADVANCED MATERIALS AND PROCESSES - EUROMAT 2021

The recent advances in nanomaterials and micro-fabrication processes have fostered the rapid growth of flexible electronics over the past few years. Resulting applications, ranging from flexible displays and sensors, to biometric devices and healthcare, have already showcased transformational advantages in terms of form factor, weight and durability. In this study, Laser-Induced Forward Transfer (LIFT), a direct, digital laser printing process, is employed, for the fabrication of highly conductive micropatterns with increased environmental stability. Meticulous screening and testing of Ag nanoparticle inks (in terms of metal loading, viscosity and particle size), used in laser printing and high-resolution laser sintering allow for large area patterns, with footprint up to 30 x 30 cm2 and resolution down to 50 μm. Laser sintering delivers patterns with resistivity down to 5 x bulk Ag. The resulting structures validate the compatibility of LIFT with conventional, high resolution nanofabrication processes. The combination of the digital and subtractive processing enables breakthroughs in the field of flexible displays, wearables, smart watches or sport computers.