Patterning of High-Viscosity Silver Paste by an Electrohydrodynamic-Jet Printer for Use in TFT Applications

Sci Rep. 2019 Jun 24;9(1):9180. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-45504-5.

Abstract

Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) jet printing has a variety of benefits compared to conventional inkjet techniques, such as high resolution and the ability to work with high-viscosity pastes. In this work, Ag nanoparticles with 4000 cPs were chosen because they are printable on various substrates for electronic devices. The effects of additive on the high-viscosity Ag paste formulation were investigated, and pattern lines narrower than 100 μm were achieved by EHD-jet printing with an average sheet resistance of 0.027 Ω □-1. Furthermore, solution-processed oxide TFTs were fabricated with EHD jet-printed Ag electrodes for the first time. The electrical properties obtained were a current ratio of 1.5 × 106, a mobility of approximately 1 cm2 V-1 s-1, a threshold voltage of 21.5 V, and a subthreshold slope of 3.05 V dec-1.