Ink jet printed metals and conducting polymers

Ag, Cu and Ni metallizations were inkjet printed with near vacuum deposition quality. The approach developed can easily be extended to other conductors such as Pd, Pt, Au, etc. Thick, highly conducting lines of Ag and Cu demonstrating good adhesion to glass, Si and printed circuit board (PCB) have been printed at 100-200 degrees C in air and N-2 respectively. Ag grids were inkjet-printed on Si solar cells and fired through the silicon nitride antireflection (AR) layer at 850 degrees C resulting in solar cells with 8% efficiency. Next-generation multicomponent inks (including etching agents) have also been developed which demonstrate improved fire-through contacts, leading to higher cell efficiencies. Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-polystyrene sulfonate PEDOT-PSS polymer based conductors were inkjet printed with conductivity as good or better than that of spin-coated films.