Plasma jet printing of metallic patterns in zero gravity

Printing of metallic, semiconducting and other materials is a key step in printed and flexible electronics. Plasma jet printing is emerging as an alternative to inkjet, aerosol and other competing printing techniques since it is a single step process that does not require post-thermal annealing to obtain consolidated printed films with good adhesion. Here, we provide results for printing metallic films and patterns from flight tests with varying gravity from 0 to 2 G. The conductivity of the as-printed silver film without any post-sintering was 12% of the bulk value for silver. As expected, the absence of gravity has no adverse impact on the print quality since the ink content along with the plasma is forcefully ejected by the applied electric field towards the substrate, while the successful flight test itself attests to the robustness of the printer and the printing technique.

Automated summary

Plasma jet printing is an emerging printing technique that can produce films with good adhesion in a single step. Flight tests under varying gravity conditions showed that the print quality was not affected by gravity, demonstrating the robustness of the printer and the printing technique.