Materials Characterization of Thin Films Printed with Ge₂₀Se₈₀ Ink

Additive manufacturing or 3D printing has been of vital importance in recent years due to its several advantages over traditional manufacturing technologies (e.g. Low cost, High throughput, High conformity). Printing has the potential to fabricate a device on non-flat surfaces and for sensing application this is an important advantage. This enables direct contact measurement of various physical parameters by fabricating the device directly on the surface to be monitored. Ink formation, printing and sintering are three major steps in additive manufacturing. Depending on the printing technology like inkjet, aerojet or syringe dispensing systems, inks of different parameters (e.g. particle size, viscosity, surface tension) are produced. Printing step is optimized for the specific equipment and sintering depends on the ink material, application requirement etc.