| Abstract Scope |
Aerosol jet printing (AJP), an additive manufacturing technique, is an alternative approach to traditional lithography-fabricated circuits. In AJP, conductive ink is aerosolized, carried and focused with gas flows, before depositing onto a substrate. Following the deposition, the printed trace is thermally cured to densify the ink. In this work, a particle-free silver ink was deposited onto a polydimethylsiloxane substrate and a glass slide. The manufacturer’s recommendation for sintering the ink was 120°C for 1 hour; however, initial trials demonstrated inconsistent conductivity. Several different time/temperature iterations were explored and ultimately 150°C for 5 hours produced the most promising results. Optical and scanning electron microscopy were performed to establish print quality, while resistance measurements provided information about conductivity. Data from this work will be used to further refine circuit fabrication. |