Screen Printing of Highly Loaded Silver Inks on Plastic Substrates Using Silicon Stencils

Screen printing is a potential technique for mass-production of printed electronics; however, improvement in printing resolution is needed for high integration and performance. In this study, screen printing of highly loaded silver ink (77 wt %) on polyimide films is studied using fine-scale silicon stencils with openings ranging from 5 to 50 mu m wide. This approach enables printing of high-resolution silver lines with widths as small as 22 mu m. The printed silver lines on polyimide exhibit good electrical properties with a resistivity of 5.5 x 10(-6) Omega cm and excellent bending tolerance for bending radii greater than 5 mm (tensile strains less than 0.75%).