Structure, electrical characteristics, and high-temperature stability of aerosol jet printed silver nanoparticle films

Journal Article · Sun Aug 21 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4960779· OSTI ID:22598909

Rahman, Md Taibur; McCloy, John; Panat, Rahul ^[1]

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1. School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99163 (United States)

Printed electronics has emerged as a versatile eco-friendly fabrication technique to create sintered nanoparticle (NP) films on arbitrary surfaces with an excellent control over the film microstructure. While applicability of such films for high-temperature applications is not explored previously, herein we report the high-temperature electrical stability of silver (Ag) metal NP films fabricated using an Aerosol Jet based printing technique and demonstrate that this behavior is dictated by changes in the film microstructure. In-situ high temperature (24–500 °C) impedance spectroscopy measurements show that the real part of the impedance increases with increasing temperature up to 150 °C, at which point a decreasing trend prevails until 300 °C, followed again by an increase in impedance. The electrical behavior is correlated with the in-situ grain growth of the Ag NP films, as observed afterwards by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD), and could be tailored by controlling the initial microstructure through sintering conditions. Using combined diffraction and spectroscopic analytical methods, it is demonstrated the Aerosol Jet printed Ag NP films exhibit enhanced thermal stability and oxidation resistance. In addition to establishing the conditions for stability of Ag NP films, the results provide a fundamental understanding of the effect of grain growth and reduction in grain boundary area on the electrical stability of sintered NP films.

• OSTI ID: 22598909
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 120, Issue 7; Other Information: (c) 2016 Author(s); Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
AEROSOLS
FILMS
GRAIN BOUNDARIES
GRAIN GROWTH
IMPEDANCE
JETS
NANOPARTICLES
SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
SILVER
SINTERING
SPECTROSCOPY
SURFACES
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0400-1000 K
X-RAY DIFFRACTION