Laser direct printing of solder paste

We experimentally demonstrated a laser-based approach for the maskless printing of solder paste with a predefined size and position. In this work, a 532 nm laser marking system is used to induce the formation of a solder paste bridge between the donor and acceptor substrate. After the donor is removed vertically, the bridge will rupture and a high aspect ratio voxel can be obtained on the acceptor substrate. The width and height of transferred voxels can be controlled by modifying the laser fluence. In order to find out the specific conditions for the solder paste bridge formation, we carried out transfer experiments at different gap distances and found out a bridge formation threshold. Solder paste bridges can be produced only when the gap distance is smaller than the threshold. Furthermore, the threshold can be affected by the film thickness and spot size. In this condition, a solder paste array with an average size of 100 µm and a pitch of 200 µm has been successfully transferred. Compared to conventional printing methods, the method proposed in this paper can effectively improve the transfer accuracy and reduce the production cost.