Effect of Microstructural Development on Mechanical and Electrical Properties of Inkjet-Printed Ag Films

The microstructural characterization of inkjet-printed Ag films sintered at various conditions was carried out to analyze the effect of microstructure on mechanical and electrical properties. As expected, the films became denser with grain growth with increasing sintering time and temperature, which resulted in improvement in mechanical properties. However, the resistivity of the films reached a minimum value of 3.0 mu ohm cm before full densification. In order to improve the mechanical properties, pressure-assisted sintering was introduced. As a result, inkjet-printed Ag films sintered at 250 degrees C under 5 MPa showed a tensile strength of 550 MPa, elongation of 2.4%, Young's modulus of 55 GPa, and resistivity of similar to 3.0 mu ohm cm.