Electrical sintering of silver nanoparticle ink studied by in-situ TEM probing.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 21390314.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0017209 and PMC identifier 3044741.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Metallic nanoparticle inks are used for printed electronics, but to reach acceptable conductivity the structures need to be sintered, usually using a furnace. Recently, sintering by direct resistive heating has been demonstrated. For a microscopic understanding of this Joule heating sintering method, we studied the entire process in real time inside a transmission electron microscope equipped with a movable electrical probe. We found an onset of Joule heating induced sintering and coalescence of nanoparticles at power levels of 0.1-10 mW/μm³. In addition, a carbonization of the organic shells that stabilize the nanoparticles were found, with a conductivity of 4 10⁵ Sm⁻¹.
Medical subject headings
- Electroplating
- Ink
- Metal Nanoparticles
- Microscopy, Electron, Transmission
- Silver
- Silver Compounds