Photosintering and electrical performance of CuO nanoparticle inks

•We evaluate photosintering effectiveness of copper oxide nanoparticle ink.•We evaluate the effect of line-width on sheet resistance (100, 200 and 300 microns).•Ink evaporation impacts the effectiveness of the reducing agent in CuO ink.•Evaporation rate varies as a function of feature size (line-width).•Circuits with drastically different feature sizes may require special considerations.

A copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticle ink was inkjet printed and photosintered in order to optimize electrical performance as a function of pattern dimension. For a given photosintering condition, electrical conductance varied strongly with line widths, ranging from 100 to 300 μm, illustrating the implications of printing and sintering complex circuit designs with varying feature sizes. By tuning the time delay between printing and sintering, exposure wavelength, radiant energy, pulse width and the distance between the light-source and substrate, photosintering conditions were optimized so that variations in sheet resistance for different line widths were minimized. Using optimized photosintering conditions, a sheet resistance value as low as 150 mΩ/□ (resistivity of 9 μΩ cm) and current carrying capacity of 280 mA for a 300 μm wide trace was achieved.

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