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The effect of ultrasonic excitation on the electrical properties and microstructure of printed electronic conductive inks

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conference contribution
posted on 2015-05-29, 13:55 authored by Alkaios Bournias-Varotsis, Russell Harris, Ross Friel
Ultrasonic Additive Manufacturing (UAM) is an advanced manufacturing technique, which enables the embedding of electronic components and interconnections within solid aluminium structures, due to the low temperature encountered during material bonding. In this study, the effects of ultrasonic excitation, caused by the UAM process, on the electrical properties and the microstructure of thermally cured screen printed silver conductive inks were investigated. The electrical resistance and the dimensions of the samples were measured and compared before and after the ultrasonic excitation. The microstructure of excited and unexcited samples was examined using combined Focused Ion Beam and Scanning Electron Microscopy (FIB/SEM) and optical microscopy. The results showed an increase in the resistivity of the silver tracks after the ultrasonic excitation, which was correlated with a change in the microstructure: the size of the silver particles increased after the excitation, suggesting that inter-particle bonding has occurred. The study also highlighted issues with short circuiting between the conductive tracks and the aluminium substrate, which were attributed to the properties of the insulating layer and the inherent roughness of the UAM substrate. However, the reduction in conductivity and observed short circuiting were sufficiently small and rare, which leads to the conclusion that printed conductive tracks can function as interconnects in conjunction with UAM, for the fabrication of novel smart metal components.

Funding

This work was supported by the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) as part of the Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Additive Manufacturing.

History

School

  • Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering

Published in

38th International Spring Seminar on Electronics Technology

Citation

BOURNIAS-VAROTSIS, A., HARRIS, R.A. and FRIEL, R.J., 2015. The effect of ultrasonic excitation on the electrical properties and microstructure of printed electronic conductive inks. IN: Proceedings of the 38th International Spring Seminar on Electronics Technology, Eger, Hungary, 6-10 May, pp.140-145.

Publisher

© IEEE

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Publisher statement

This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Publication date

2015

Notes

© 2015 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE.

Language

  • en

Location

Eger, Hungary