PLoS ONE 2011-01-01

Electrical sintering of silver nanoparticle ink studied by in-situ TEM probing.

Magnus Hummelgård, Renyun Zhang, Hans-Erik Nilsson, Håkan Olin

Index: PLoS ONE 6 , e17209, (2011)

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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.