Laser-induced implantation of silver particles into poly(vinyl alcohol) films and its application to electronic-circuit fabrication on encapsulated organic electronics

In this study, we propose a new laser-induced implantation based approach for embedding electronic interconnects in this study. Direct implantations of silver particles, vaporized by a pulsed laser from a silver film initially pre-coated on a transparent glass substrate, into poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)-encapsulated organic electronic devices as electronic conducting circuits are demonstrated. Two test carriers are the devices of organic thin-film transistors and polymeric light-emitting diodes. Device property characterizations indicate the implanted circuits can work smoothly. The implantation process is driven by the high-energy ejected particles that soften and melt the PVA layer and penetrate into it until their momentums are totally lost. The penetration depth increases with the number of laser pulses and is becoming saturated as the pulse number is getting high. A conducting circuit, with length of 2 μm, can be completely embedded within 3 laser pulses. Due to its flexibility in embedding metals into an encapsulated device, this technique can be used for repairing internal circuit damage. Besides, all steps can be executed in the ambient environment and at room temperature that is suitable for plastic substrate processing.