Conductive silver patterns via ethylene glycol vapor reduction of ink-jet printed silver nitrate tracks on a polyimide substrate

In this paper, we report using ethylene glycol vapor reduction approach to fabricate conductive silver tracks directly from silver nitrate solution by ink-jet printing. The silver nitrate precursor can be reduced in ethylene glycol vapor to form silver at low temperatures. X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, and energy dispersive spectrometric analysis results indicate that the silver nitrate has been converted to silver completely. Using a high concentration silver nitrate solution, continuous silver conductive lines with a resistivity of 7.314 x 10(-5) Omega cm have been produced, which is relatively close to the resistivity of bulk silver. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.