Xaar and Lawter collaborate to deliver silver nanoink printing for flexible optoelectronics

Nov. 10, 2015
Feature widths of less than 1 µm are possible.
With oven sintering or photonic curing, nanosilver conductive inks can produce lines with thickness below 1 µm. (Image: Lawter)

A collaboration between industrial inkjet-printer specialist Xaar (Cambridge, England) and graphic-arts chemical maker Lawter (Chicago, IL), along with Lawter's parent company Harima Chemicals Group (HCG; Tokyo, Japan) has come together to improve nanosilver conductive inks as used by the Xaar inkjet-printer printhead. Conductive inks are a crucial part of some flexible-display designs, as well as other wearable and flexible photonics and electronics. Conductive ink can also enable wearable sensors and antennas.

According to the team members, inkjet is a cleaner process than other methods of printing silver inks, which is especially relevant when printing onto a substrate, such as a display, in which any yield loss is very expensive. With inkjet, manufacturers can precisely control the amount of ink dispensed in certain areas of a pattern so that the ink or fluid deposited can be thicker in some areas and thinner in others. Similarly, inkjet enables the deposition of a much thinner layer of fluids than traditional methods, which is significant for the manufacturers looking to produce thinner devices. In addition, inkjet is one of the few technologies able to print a circuit over a substrate that has a structured surface.

HCG developed and began the manufacture of silver nanoparticle conductive inks for the printed electronics industry 20 years ago and has more than 100 patents related to its low-temperature-sintered nanoparticle dispersion technology, which is cured by heat applied in a variety of ways, including by light ("photonic curing").

Xaar has been in the industrial inkjet business for 25 years.

Source: Xaar and Lawter

Sponsored Recommendations

Advancing Neuroscience Using High-Precision 3D Printing

March 7, 2025
Learn how Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Used High-Precision 3D Printing to Advance Neuroscience Research using 3D Printed Optical Drives.

From Prototyping to Production: How High-Precision 3D Printing is Reinventing Electronics Manufacturing

March 7, 2025
Learn how micro 3D printing is enabling miniaturization. As products get smaller the challenge to manufacture small parts increases.

Sputtered Thin-film Coatings

Feb. 27, 2025
Optical thin-film coatings can be deposited by a variety of methods. Learn about 2 traditional methods and a deposition process called sputtering.

What are Notch Filters?

Feb. 27, 2025
Notch filters are ideal for applications that require nearly complete rejection of a laser line while passing as much non-laser light as possible.

Voice your opinion!

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of Laser Focus World, create an account today!