Evaluation of adhesion pull-off performance of nanoparticle-based inkjet-printed silver structure on various substrates

In this paper, we evaluated two different silver inks that differ about their particle size and used components in ink onto several commonly used substrates in the printed electronics, i.e., PEN, PI, PET, and LCP. Several sintering temperatures and durations were studied to select the right sintering profile for each ink-substrate combination for certain types of electronics application. The results showed that Ag C silver ink has the highest adhesion performance on PET and LCP substrates at 150 degrees C for 60 min compared to the other sintering profile of the same ink which has been used in production of low-cost electronics. On the other hand, Ag H silver ink showed the highest adhesion performance on Kapton PI compared to the sintering profile of the same ink to produce high-frequency electronic applications, miniaturisation of microelectronic packages, and decreasing the width of the microelectronic circuits. In addition, to control the spreading mechanism of the ink droplets, the surface treatment applied before printing process and its effect on adhesion performance after printing and sintering process was investigated on selected ink-substrate combination. Tests results were presented and it showed that the electronic coating was weakening the adhesion performance of that selected ink-substrate combination.