Novel approaches for low temperature sintering of inkjet-printed inorganic nanoparticles for roll-to-roll (R2R) applications

Within the last decade, inkjet printing technology has developed from only a text and graphic industry to a major topic of scientific research and development. Inkjet printing can be used as a highly reproducible noncontact patterning technique to print at high speeds either small or large areas with high quality features; it requires only small amounts of functional materials, which immediately lower production costs. Furthermore, inkjet printing reduces the amount of processing steps due to its additive technique of materials deposition, which further decreases productions costs. This contribution provides a literature survey covering the latest results in low temperature sintering inkjet-printed metal precursor materials in a fast and efficient manner, aiming for roll-to-roll processing. The prepared features can be used as interconnects and contacts for microelectronic applications, including organic light-emitting diodes, organic photovoltaics, and radio frequency identification tags.