Use of copper ink for fabricating conductive electrodes and RFID antenna tags by screen printing

We have synthesized nano-sized copper hydroxide powder and copper (II) neodecanoate complex that can be decomposed to form copper metal films. Copper conductive ink was then prepared by mixing the powder and complex with a binder in terpineol. The lowest resistivity of 12.5 μΩ cm and 5B level of adhesion strength were obtained with 5% addition of epoxy resin as a binder. The copper ink was then applied to fabricate a loop-type RFID antenna tag and the performance of the antenna was compared with that of conventional copper-etched and silver-paste antenna. The fabricated RFID antenna showed comparable performance to the conventional RFID antenna.

► Synthesis of nano-size copper hydroxide particle and copper carboxylate complexes.
► Printable copper ink formulation for RFID application.
► Copper ink of electrical resistivity below 10 μΩ cm after sintering at 250 °C for 20 min
► Printed copper film with adhesion strength of 5B level.
► Comparable characteristics of printed copper antenna to etched copper antenna.