Fabrication of submicron-sized metal patterns on a flexible polymer substrate by femtosecond laser sintering of metal nanoparticles
by Yong Son; Junyeob Yeo; Cheol Woo Ha; Sukjoon Hong; Seung Hwan Ko; Dong-Yol Yang
International Journal of Nanomanufacturing (IJNM), Vol. 9, No. 5/6, 2013

Abstract: The femtosecond laser sintering of metal nanoparticles was studied in order to fabricate submicron-sized metal patterns on flexible polymer substrates for various applications in the electronic and photonic industries. In this process, a mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser beam was tightly focused on silver nanoparticles. To achieve a homogeneous dispersion of the silver nanoparticles, the nanoparticles were prepared using a two-phase reduction method wherein the silver nanoparticles were encapsulated by functional surfactants. The key advantage of the femtosecond laser sintering process is that it reduces the heat-affected zone during sintering, as the femtosecond (10-15 s) laser pulse is shorter than the heat diffusion time (picosecond: 10-12 s). Therefore, sintering of metal nanoparticles is limited to the laser focal spot and the thermal diffusion effect is suppressed, enabling the realisation of submicron-sized metal patterns on flexible polymer substrates. Through this process, metal conductors with submicron-sized features and high conductivity were successfully fabricated. As demonstrated by the obtained results, the femtosecond laser sintering of metal nanoparticles is a process that offers direct, low-temperature, ultra-high-resolution results, and which will have numerous further applications in flexible electronics.

Online publication date: Mon, 31-Mar-2014

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