Microstructure and electrical properties of high power laser thermal annealing on inkjet printed Ag films

In this work, the high power CW Nd:YAG laser has been used for thermal treatment of inkjet printed Ag films-involving eliminating organic additives (dispersant, binder, and organic solvent) of Ag ink and annealing Ag nanoparticles. By optimizing laser parameters, such as laser power and defocusing value, the laser energy can totally be converted to heat energy, which is used to thermal treatment of inkjet printed Ag films. This results in controlling the microstructures and the resistivity of films. We investigated the thermal diffusion mechanisms during laser annealing and the resulting microstructures. The impact of high power laser annealing on microstructures and electrical characteristic of inkjet printed Ag films is compared to those of the films annealed by a conventional furnace annealing. Focused ion beam (FIB) channeling image shows that the laser annealed Ag films have large columnar grains and dense structure (void free), while furnace annealed films have tiny grains and exhibit void formation. Due to these microstructural characteristics of laser annealed films, it has better electrical property (low resistivity) compared to furnace annealed samples.