Effect of temperature on electrical conductance of inkjet-printed silver nanoparticle ink during continuous wave laser sintering

Abstract To determine the effect of temperature on the specific electrical conductance of inkjet-printed ink during continuous wave laser sintering, the temperature of the sintered ink was estimated. The ink, which contained 34 wt.% silver nanoparticles with an average size of approximately 50 nm, was inkjet-printed onto a liquid crystal display glass substrate. The printed ink was irradiated with a 532 nm continuous wave laser for 60 s with various laser intensities. During laser irradiation, the in-situ electrical conductance of the sintered ink was measured to estimate the transient thermal conductivity of the ink. The electrical conductance and thermal conductivity of the ink was coupled to obtain the transient temperature by applying the Wiedemann–Franz law to a two-dimensional transient heat conduction equation. The electrical conductance of laser-sintered ink was highly dependent on the sintering temperature of the ink.