Highly conductive thin-films based on solution-processed silver nanoparticles for spray-on antennas

Antennas are commonly deposited to rigid substrates using a physical vapour deposition process that requires high vacuum and eventually also high temperatures. Solution-processed inks that are based on e.g. metal nanowires or -particles have recently attracted a high research and commercial interest attributed to scalable synthesis protocols and readily available deposition techniques under ambient conditions. In this contribution, we report on the fabrication and characterization of conductive thin-films based on spray-coated silver nanoparticles. In order to enhance the conductivity of the sub 250 nm thick films, different sintering techniques such as thermal annealing and high intensity light pulse sintering were investigated under ambient conditions. After sintering, films with a thickness around 130 nm and a resistivity around 64 nOhm*m, which is only around a factor of 4.8 higher than the value reported for bulk silver, were produced. The drastic reduction in resistance from almost non-conductive can be ascribed to the coalescence of the 50 nm particles to a percolating silver film. Furthermore, the highly conductive films were tested for spray-on antennas on rigid and flexible substrate using an original coplanar design.     «

Antennas are commonly deposited to rigid substrates using a physical vapour deposition process that requires high vacuum and eventually also high temperatures. Solution-processed inks that are based on e.g. metal nanowires or -particles have recently attracted a high research and commercial interest attributed to scalable synthesis protocols and readily available deposition techniques under ambient conditions. In this contribution, we report on the fabrication and characterization of conducti...     »