Low viscosity precursor compositions and methods for the deposition of conductive electronics features
A precursor composition for the deposition and formation of an electrical feature such as a conductive feature. The precursor composition advantageously has a low viscosity enabling deposition using direct-write tools. The precursor composition also has a low conversion temperature, enabling the deposition and conversion to an electrical feature on low temperature substrates. A particularly preferred precursor composition includes silver metal for the formation of highly conductive silver features.
1 . A process for forming a flat panel display conductive feature, comprising:
(a) direct printing a precursor composition onto a surface modified substrate, wherein the precursor composition comprises metallic particles; and
(b) heating the precursor composition to form the flat panel display conductive feature on the substrate, the flat panel display conductive feature having a minimum feature size of not greater than 100 μm.
2 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the direct printing comprises syringe printing.
3 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the direct printing comprises aerosol jet deposition.
4 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the direct printing comprises, ink jet printing.
5 . The process of claim 4 , wherein the process further comprises:
(c) surface modifying selected regions of a surface of an initial substrate to form the surface modified substrate.
6 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the surface modifying comprises surface energy patterning by increasing or decreasing the surface energy of the surface in the selected regions corresponding to where it is desired to confine the precursor composition.
7 . The process of claim 6 , wherein the surface modifying is performed with a laser.
8 . The process of claim 7 , wherein the laser removes hydroxyl groups from the surface.
9 . The process of claim 7 , wherein the laser increases or decreases hydrophilicity of the surface.
10 . The process of claim 7 , wherein the laser forms pores on the substrate.
11 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the surface modifying comprises surface energy patterning by increasing or decreasing surface energy of the surface in selected regions corresponding to where it is desired to eliminate the precursor composition.
12 . The process of claim 11 , wherein the surface modifying is performed with a laser.
13 . The process of claim 12 , wherein the laser removes hydroxyl groups from the surface.
14 . The process of claim 12 , wherein the laser increases or decreases hydrophilicity of the surface.
15 . The process of claim 12 , wherein the laser forms pores on the substrate.
16 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the surface modifying increases adhesion of the precursor composition to the substrate.
17 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the surface modifying is performed with a thermal print head.
18 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the surface modifying comprises chemically modifying the surface.
19 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the surface modifying comprises electrostatic printing.
20 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the surface modifying comprises micro-contact printing.
21 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the substrate comprises a polymer.
22 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the substrate comprises glass.
23 . The process of claim 22 , wherein the surface modifying comprises increasing the surface energy of the glass in selected regions corresponding to where it is desired to confine or eliminate the precursor composition.
24 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the precursor composition has a surface tension of 20 to 50 dynes/cm.
25 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the direct printing comprises directing droplets of the precursor composition toward a surface of the substrate, the droplets having an average droplet size not greater than about 10 μm.
26 . The process of claim 25 , wherein the average droplet size is not greater than about 5 μm.
27 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the direct printing comprises depositing droplets onto the substrate at a rate of 1000 drops per second or higher.
28 . The process of claim 27 , wherein each droplet comprise from about 25 to 100 picoliters of the precursor composition.
29 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the minimum feature size is not greater than 75 μm.
30 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the minimum feature size is not greater than 50 μm.
31 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the minimum feature size is not greater than 25 μm.
32 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the flat panel display conductive feature has a width not greater than 200 μm.
33 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the flat panel display conductive feature has a width not greater than 100 μm.
34 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the flat panel display conductive feature has a width not greater than 75 μm.
35 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the flat panel display conductive feature has a width not greater than 50 μm.
36 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the metallic particles comprise a metal selected from the group consisting of silver, palladium, copper, gold, platinum and nickel.
37 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the precursor composition further comprises metal oxide particles.
38 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the precursor composition further comprises glass particles.
39 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the metallic particles have a volume median particle size of not greater than 100 nanometers.
40 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the metallic particles have a volume median particle size of not greater than 0.3 μm.
41 . The process of claim 40 , wherein the metallic particles comprise a cap or coating thereon.
42 . The process of claim 41 , wherein the cap or coating comprises an inorganic cap or coating.
43 . The process of claim 41 , wherein the cap or coating comprises silica.
44 . The process of claim 41 , wherein the cap or coating comprises glass.
45 . The process of claim 41 , wherein the cap or coating comprises an organic cap or coating.
46 . The process of claim 41 , wherein the cap or coating comprises a polymer.
47 . The process of claim 41 , wherein the cap or coating comprises an intrinsically conductive polymer, a sulfonated perfluorohydrocarbon polymer, polystyrene, polystyrene/methacrylate, sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate, tetra-n-octyl-ammonium bromide or an alkane thiolate.
48 . The process of claim 41 , wherein the cap or coating comprises PVP.
49 . The process of claim 40 , wherein at least 80 volume percent of the metallic particles are not. larger than twice the average particle size.
50 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the heating comprises heating in air at from about 450° C. to 600° C.
51 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the flat panel display conductive feature comprises an electrode.
52 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the flat panel display conductive feature comprises a bus line.
53 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the flat panel display conductive feature comprises a transparent conductive feature.
54 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the flat panel display conductive feature comprises indium-tin oxide or antimony-tin oxide.
55 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the metallic particle comprise a metal and wherein the conductivity of the flat panel display conductive feature is no less than 10 percent the conductivity of the equivalent pure metal.
56 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the metallic particle comprise a metal and wherein the flat panel display conductive feature has a resistivity that is not greater than 4 times the resistivity of the equivalent pure metal.
57 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the metallic particle comprise a metal and wherein the flat panel display conductive feature has a resistivity that is not greater than 2 times the resistivity of the equivalent pure metal.
58 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the flat panel display conductive feature has a thickness greater than 1 μm.
59 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the flat panel display conductive feature has a thickness greater than 5 μm.
60 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the flat panel display conductive feature comprises a metal-glass composition.
61 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the process further comprises high shear mixing the precursor composition.
62 . A process for forming a flat panel display conductive feature, the process comprising heating an ink jet printed precursor composition to form the flat panel display conductive feature on a surface modified substrate, wherein the precursor composition comprises metallic particles, and wherein the flat panel display conductive feature has a width of not greater than 100 μm.
63 . The process of claim 62 , wherein the process further comprises surface modifying selected regions of a surface of an initial substrate to form the surface modified substrate.
64 . The process of claim 63 , wherein the surface modifying comprises surface energy patterning by increasing or decreasing the surface energy of the surface in the selected regions corresponding to where it is desired to confine the precursor composition.
65 . The process of claim 64 , wherein the surface modifying is performed with a laser.
66 . The process of claim 65 , wherein the laser removes hydroxyl groups from the surface.
67 . The process of claim 65 , wherein the laser increases or decreases hydrophilicity of the surface.
68 . The process of claim 65 , wherein the laser forms pores on the substrate.
69 . The process of claim 63 , wherein the surface modifying comprises surface energy patterning by increasing or decreasing surface energy of the surface in selected regions corresponding to where it is desired to eliminate the precursor composition.
70 . The process of claim 69 , wherein the surface modifying is performed with a laser.
71 . The process of claim 70 , wherein the laser removes hydroxyl groups from the surface.
72 . The process of claim 70 , wherein the laser increases or decreases hydrophilicity of the surface.
73 . The process of claim 70 , wherein the laser forms pores on the substrate.
74 . The process of claim 63 , wherein the surface modifying increases adhesion of the precursor composition to the substrate.
75 . The process of claim 63 , wherein the surface modifying is performed with a thermal print head.
76 . The process of claim 63 , wherein the surface modifying comprises chemically modifying the surface.
77 . The process of claim 63 , wherein the surface modifying comprises electrostatic printing.
78 . The process of claim 63 , wherein the surface modifying comprises micro-contact printing.
79 . The process of claim 63 , wherein the substrate comprises a polymer.
80 . The process of claim 63 , wherein the substrate comprises glass.
81 . The process of claim 80 , wherein the surface modifying comprises increasing the surface energy of the glass in selected regions corresponding to where it is desired to confine or eliminate the precursor composition.
82 . The process of claim 63 , wherein the precursor composition has a surface tension of 20 to 50 dynes/cm.
83 . The process of claim 63 , wherein the direct printing comprises directing droplets of the precursor composition toward a surface of the substrate, the droplets having an average droplet size not greater than about 10 μm.
84 . The process of claim 83 , wherein the average droplet size is not greater than about 5 μm.
85 . The process of claim 63 , wherein the direct printing comprises depositing droplets onto the substrate at a rate of 1000 drops per second or higher.
86 . The process of claim 85 , wherein each droplet comprise from about 25 to 100 picoliters of the precursor composition.
87 . The process of claim 63 , wherein the minimum feature size is not greater than 75 μm.
88 . The process of claim 63 , wherein the minimum feature size is not greater than 50 μm.
89 . The process of claim 63 , wherein the minimum feature size is not greater than 25 μm.
90 . The process of claim 63 , wherein the flat panel display conductive feature has a width not greater than 200 μm.
91 . The process of claim 63 , wherein the flat panel display conductive feature has a width not greater than 100 μm.
92 . The process of claim 63 , wherein the flat panel display conductive feature has a width not greater than 75 μm.
93 . The process of claim 63 , wherein the flat panel display conductive feature has a width not greater than 50 μm.
94 . The process of claim 63 , wherein the metallic particles comprise a metal selected from the group consisting of silver, palladium, copper, gold, platinum and nickel.
95 . The process of claim 63 , wherein the precursor composition further comprises metal oxide particles.
96 . The process of claim 63 , wherein the precursor composition further comprises glass particles.
97 . The process of claim 63 , wherein the metallic particles have a volume median particle size of not greater than 100 nanometers.
98 . The process of claim 63 , wherein the metallic particles have a volume median particle size of not greater than 0.3 μm.
99 . The process of claim 98 , wherein the metallic particles comprise a cap or coating thereon.
100 . The process of claim 99 , wherein the cap or coating comprises an inorganic cap or coating.
101 . The process of claim 99 , wherein the cap or coating comprises silica.
102 . The process of claim 99 , wherein the cap or coating comprises glass.
103 . The process of claim 99 , wherein the cap or coating comprises an organic cap or coating.
104 . The process of claim 99 , wherein the cap or coating comprises a polymer.
105 . The process of claim 99 , wherein the cap or coating comprises an intrinsically conductive polymer, a sulfonated perfluorohydrocarbon polymer, polystyrene, polystyrene/methacrylate, sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate, tetra-n-octyl-ammonium bromide or an alkane thiolate.
106 . The process of claim 99 , wherein the cap or coating comprises PVP.
107 . The process of claim 98 , wherein at least 80 volume percent of the metallic particles are not larger than twice the average particle size.
108 . The process of claim 63 , wherein the heating comprises heating in air at from about 450° C. to 600° C.
109 . The process of claim 63 , wherein the flat panel display conductive feature comprises an electrode.
110 . The process of claim 63 , wherein the flat panel display conductive feature comprises a bus line.
111 . The process of claim 63 , wherein the flat panel display conductive feature comprises a transparent conductive feature.
112 . The process of claim 63 , wherein the flat panel display conductive feature comprises indium-tin oxide or antimony-tin oxide.
113 . The process of claim 63 , wherein the metallic particle comprise a metal and wherein the conductivity of the flat panel display conductive feature is no less than 10 percent the conductivity of the equivalent pure metal.
114 . The process of claim 63 , wherein the metallic particle comprise a metal and wherein the flat panel display conductive feature has a resistivity that is not greater than 4 times the resistivity of the equivalent pure metal.
115 . The process of claim 63 , wherein the metallic particle comprise a metal and wherein the flat panel display conductive feature has a resistivity that is not greater than 2 times the resistivity of the equivalent pure metal.
116 . The process of claim 63 , wherein the flat panel display conductive feature has a thickness greater than 1 μm.
117 . The process of claim 63 , wherein the flat panel display conductive feature has a thickness greater than 5 μm.
118 . The process of claim 63 , wherein the flat panel display conductive feature comprises a metal-glass composition.
119 . The process of claim 63 , wherein the process further comprises high shear mixing the precursor composition.