Evaluation of screen printed silver trace performance and long-term reliability against environmental stress on a low surface energy substrate
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review
Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 54-65 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Microelectronics Reliability |
| Volume | 86 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jul 2018 |
| Publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Abstract
Otherwise attractive substrate materials for printed electronics may have such surface characteristics that make patterning challenging. This article focuses on the printability and performance characterization of conductive patterns on a low surface energy substrate. Surface characteristics of a hydrophobic polyphenylene ether (PPE) substrate and the effects of surface modification using chemical and physical pre-treatments were studied. In addition, silver ink performance and its reliability on this substrate were evaluated. The surface was characterized by surface energy measurements and surface profile analysis. Screen-printed test patterns were characterized to evaluate print quality and electrical and mechanical performance. A further inspection of substrate-ink interactions was conducted using environmental reliability tests. It was observed that ink adhesion could be significantly promoted by choosing a suitable surface pre-treatment method. Low sheet resistances were obtained, and thus, suitable inks for further characterization were found. In addition, it was observed that environmental stress has a significant impact on ink-substrate interactions.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Keywords
- Adhesion, Environmental stress, PPE, Printed electronics, Reliability, Surface modification