Abstract
The advancement of flexible printing technology in electronics has raised the demand for compact, lightweight, and stretchable printed electric circuits. The viability of environmentally friendly water-based inks with low-impact waste requires the development of process recipes for component attachment on flexible substrates. The processes required for component attachment on the newer generation of inks are not well understood. This paper aims to demonstrate process parameter study and component attachment in the aerosol jet printer (AJP) platform with water-based silver nanoparticle ink. The process parameter study includes printing parameters such as UAMFC, SMFC, stage speed, several passes, and sintering analysis, including sintering time and temperature. Print quality is evaluated using white light interferometry (WLI) and optical microscopy images. By integrating the bell-shaped cross-section area (CSA) acquired by the WLI test, the CSA of the printed lines is computed. The electrical and mechanical properties of the printed lines are quantified in terms of resistivity and shear load to failure, respectively. Optimized parameters from the printing and sintering process are used to print traces on which different components are attached with the help of ECA (Electrically Conductive Adhesive). The effect of using sustainable ink and ECA on passive components was analyzed by comparing their performance before and after being attached. Components that fall within the acceptable range of the rated value are deemed to be functioning properly.
