Inkjet printing and adhesion characterisation of conductive tracks on a commercial printed circuit board material

Silver nanoparticle-based conductive tracks were inkjet printed using a piezoelectric drop-on-demand inkjet printer on a commercially available electronics grade fibre glass (E-glass) reinforced substrate material, and the experimental results have been summarised. Ink jetting was done on two variants of this substrate material, viz. etched and unetched, to determine the influence of substrate surface topography on adhesion and accuracy of the printed tracks. The pull-off adhesion test method was used to quantify adhesive strength. The dependence of the pull-off test results on local geometry of the test area are illustrated with the aid of scanning electron microscope images and interferometer studies. Based on the outcomes of the experiments, conclusions concerning the suitable surface topography for inkjet printing have been arrived at.