Rapid laser sintering of metal nano-particles inks.

Fast sintering is of importance in additive metallization processes and especially on sensitive substrates. This work explores the mechanisms which set limits to the laser sintering rate of metal nano-particle inks. A comparison of sintering behavior of three different ink compositions with laser exposure times from micro-seconds to seconds reveals the dominant factor to be the organic content (OC) in the ink. With a low OC silver ink, of 2% only, sintering time falls below 100 µs with resistivity <×4 bulk silver. Still shorter exposure times result in line delamination and deformation with a similar outcome when the OC is increased.