Granted Patent B2

US 12,227,661 · App. 18/382,630 · Granted Feb 18, 2025

Inventors: Ying-Syi Li (Fremont, CA); Xiqiang Yang (Hayward, CA); Yu Kambe (Berkeley, CA); Xiaofeng Chen (San Jose, CA); Hua Gu (Dublin, CA); Steven Michael Lam (San Jose, CA); Melanie Maniko Inouye (Fremont, CA); Arthur Yung-Chi Cheng (Newark, CA); Alex Da Zhang Tan (Singapore, SG); Christopher S. Scully (Campbell, CA); Ajay Virkar (San Mateo, CA)

Assignee: EKC Technology, Inc.

C09D11/52B05D1/005B05D1/02B05D1/18B05D1/265B05D1/28B05D3/0254B05D5/06C09D11/08C09D11/10C09D11/102C09D11/106C09D11/14C09D101/02C09D139/06C23C30/00G06F3/0445H01B1/02H01B1/22H01B13/30H05K1/0274H05K1/097G06F3/044G06F3/045G06F2203/04103H05K2201/0108H05K2201/026H05K2201/10128H05K2201/10151

Abstract

Claims (17)

1. A method for processing a deposited metal nanowire ink with metal ions, the method comprising:

drying the deposited metal nanowire ink at a temperature from about 60° C. to about 99° C. at a relative humidity of at least about 40% for at least about 1 minute, wherein an electrically conductive film is formed comprising a fused metal nanostructured network, and wherein the deposited metal nanowire ink comprises a metal nanowire ink comprising from about 0.001 wt % to about 4 wt % metal nanowires, from about 0.05 wt % to about 5 wt % hydrophilic polymer binder, and from about 0.00025 wt % to about 0.5 wt % metal ions.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the metal nanowires comprise silver nanowires and the metal ions comprise silver ions, and wherein the deposited metal nanowire ink covers all or a portion of a substrate surface at a metal loading at covered locations from about 0.1 mg/m 2 to about 300 mg/m 2 .

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the metal nanowire ink comprises from about 5 wt % to about 60 wt % liquid alcohol.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the metal nanowire ink comprises fluoride anions.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the metal ions and the fluoride anions are provided as silver fluoride.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the metal nanowire ink comprises from about 0.0001 to about 0.1 wt % fluoride anions.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein a pH of the metal nanowire ink is at least about 3 pH units.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein a pH of the metal nanowire ink is from about 5.5 to about 7.5 pH units.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the hydrophilic polymer binder comprises a cellulose based polymer or chitosan based polymer.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the hydrophilic polymer binder comprises a polysaccharide.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the drying is performed at a relative humidity of no more than about 70% and at a temperature from about 65° C. to about 90° C.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the metal nanowires comprise silver nanowires and the electrically conductive film has a sheet resistance of no more than about 140 ohms/sq, a % TT of at least about 95% and a haze of no more than about 1.2%.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the metal nanowire ink comprises from about 0.01 wt % to about 2.5 wt % curable binder.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the method further comprises curing the curable binder.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the method further comprises applying a polymer overcoat on the electrically conductive film.

16. A processed metal nanowire film comprising the electrically conductive film of claim 1 .

Assignments (3)

Continuity (8)

References Cited (263)