Stability Bounds for Micron Scale Ag Conductor Lines Produced by Electrohydrodynamic Inkjet Printing.

Content Provider	Europe PMC
Author	Yang, Jinxin He, Pei Derby, Brian
Copyright Year	2022
Abstract	Continuous conducting lines of width 5–20 μmhavebeen printed with a Ag nanoparticle ink using drop-on-demand (DOD)electrohydrodynamic (EHD) inkjet printing on Si and PDMS substrates,with advancing contact angles of 11° and 35°, respectively,and a zero receding contact angle. It is only possible to achievestable parallel sided lines within a limited range of drop spacings,and this limiting range for stable line printing decreases as thecontact angle of the ink on the substrate increases. The upper bounddrop spacing for stable line formation is determined by a minimumdrop overlap required to prevent contact line retraction, and thelower bound is governed by competing flows for drop spreading ontoan unwetted substrate and a return flow driven by a Laplace pressuredifference between the newly deposited drops and the fluid some distancefrom the growing tip. The upper and lower bounds are shown to be consistentwith those predicted using existing models for the stability of inkjetprinted lines produced using piezoelectric droplet generators. A comparisonwith literature data for EHD printed lines finds that these limitingbounds apply with printed line widths as small as 200 nm using subfemtoliterdrop volumes. When a fine grid pattern is printed, local differencesin Laplace pressure lead to the line width retracting to the minimumstable width and excess ink being transported to the nodes of thegrid. After printing and sintering, the printed tracks have a conductivityof about 15%–20% of bulk Ag on the Si substrate, which correlateswith a porosity of about 60%.
ISSN	19448244
Journal	ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
Volume Number	14
PubMed Central reference number	PMC9437868
Issue Number	34
PubMed reference number	35979913
e-ISSN	19448252
DOI	10.1021/acsami.2c11133
Language	English
Publisher	American Chemical Society
Publisher Date	2022-08-18
Access Restriction	Open
Rights License	Permits the broadest form of re-use including for commercial purposes, provided that author attribution and integrity are maintained (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). © 2022 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society
Subject Keyword	electrohydrodynamic jetting inkjet printing printed electronics contact angle
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Medicine Materials Science