On the Use of Silver Nanoparticles for Direct Micropatterning on Polyimide Substrates

Author

Ng, Jack H -G ; Watson, David E G ; Sigwarth, Joachim ; McCarthy, Aongus ; Prior, Kevin A. ; Hand, Duncan P. ; Yu, Weixing ; Kay, Robert W. ; Liu, Changqing ; Desmulliez, Marc P Y

Author_Institution

Microsyst. Eng. Centre, Heriot-Watt Univ., Edinburgh, UK

Volume

11

Issue

1

fYear

2012

Firstpage

139

Lastpage

147

Abstract

This paper proposes a direct micropatterning process based on the growth of photoreduced silver nanoparticles onto polyimide substrates. The silver nanoparticles are found to have sufficient catalytic efficiency for subsequent electroless plating. Characterization of the process indicates that UV energy dose and heat treatment have to be traded off against photo and thermal degradation of the polymer substrate. Factors affecting the adhesion of the final electroless metal deposit are also discussed.

Keywords

adhesion; electroplating; heat treatment; metallisation; nanofabrication; nanoparticles; silver; ultraviolet spectra; Ag; UV energy; adhesion; catalytic efficiency; direct micropatterning; electroless metal deposit; electroless plating; heat treatment; metallization; nanoparticle; photodegradation; polymer substrate; thermaldegradation; Heat treatment; Polyimides; Silver; Substrates; Surface morphology; Surface treatment; Direct writing; electroless plating; flexible substrate; interconnections; metallization; micropatterning; packaging; photolithography; polyimide; silver nanoparticles;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Nanotechnology, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1536-125X

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TNANO.2011.2160092

Filename

5898423