Design of three different particle size distributions in silver paste through computer simulation for higher electrical conductivity

Kyungdeok Jang, University of Texas at El Paso

Abstract

In the field of printed electronics technology, researchers have tried to print highly conductive electrodes with fine width and height in order to manufacture high performance devices. The purpose of this research is to print particle monolayer silver patterns which have better electrical conductivity than existing ones. The key idea of this experiment is to analyze silver inks with different sized particles. Let us consider a particle monolayer pattern printed with silver ink consisting of mono-sized particles. Inside of the pattern, there are some vacant spaces between the particles, which can lead to low electrical conductivity and discontinuity of the pattern. If smaller particles are put into the spaces in the silver ink of mono-sized particles, the pattern will have fewer vacant spaces, increasing electrical conductivity of the pattern. Computer simulation was developed in order to calculate monolayer packing density of three different sized particles and each distribution ratio of the particles in a plain. There were some variables to be considered in the computer simulation, and they were optimized. Various packing density results with different particle size ratio were obtained from the computer simulation. To verify the computer simulation results, three different kinds of silver inks were fabricated according to the computer simulation results, and then printed to see the particle monolayer packing density of the pattern and to measure the electrical resistivity. The printed pattern by using the silver ink which contains three different sized particles has higher packing density and less electrical resistivity compare to the other silver inks which contain two different sized particles and mono sized particles, respectively.

Subject Area

Chemical engineering|Electrical engineering|Materials science

Recommended Citation

Jang, Kyungdeok, "Design of three different particle size distributions in silver paste through computer simulation for higher electrical conductivity" (2014). ETD Collection for University of Texas, El Paso. AAI1583922.
https://scholarworks.utep.edu/dissertations/AAI1583922

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