Deposition of Nanostructured Silver Lines and Films from Aerosols Produced by LAMA  (ISSEMP 2006)

Andre D. Albert, Materials Science and Engineering Program, The University of Texas at Austin, drdre@mail.utexas.edu
Chong Huang, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, The University of Texas at Austin, huangchong@mail.utexas.edu
Michael F. Becker, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, The University of Texas at Austin, becker@uts.cc.utexas.edu
John W. Keto, Physics Department, The University of Texas at Austin, keto@utaphy.ph.utexas.edu
Desiderio Kovar*, Mechanical Engineering Department, The University of Texas at Austin, dkovar@mail.utexas.edu

ABSTRACT

The Laser Ablation of Microparticle Aerosol (LAMA) process provides a method for generating high yields of aerosolized nanoparticles (NP). The NP are accelerated through a nozzle and impacted onto substrates to produce films or patterned lines. Using the LAMA process, we have demonstrated the ability to produce thick films and lines from a variety of pure metals, compounds and alloys. The resulting lines and films offer a significant reduction in the post-processing temperatures required to densify the lines/films compared to conventional processes for producing patterned lines such as screen printing. This is demonstrated for Ag lines used to produce seals at low process temperatures.