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Assessing Current‐Carrying Capacity of Aerosol Jet Printed Conductors
Author(s) -
Alhendi Mohammed,
Sivasubramony Rajesh S.,
Weerawarne Darshana L.,
Iannotti Joseph,
Borgesen Peter,
Poliks Mark D.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
advanced engineering materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.938
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1527-2648
pISSN - 1438-1656
DOI - 10.1002/adem.202000520
Subject(s) - materials science , electrical conductor , printed electronics , printed circuit board , interconnection , inkwell , conductor , substrate (aquarium) , current (fluid) , electronics , conductive ink , reliability (semiconductor) , optoelectronics , composite material , electrical engineering , sheet resistance , computer science , engineering , telecommunications , power (physics) , oceanography , physics , layer (electronics) , geology , quantum mechanics
Printed conductors are the main building blocks of printed flexible electronic circuits. With the advancement and growing demand for printed and flexible electronics, researchers are focused on assessing the mechanical reliability of interconnects. Even more important is, often, the electrical performance or the current‐carrying capacity of the interconnects. A mechanically reliable interconnect has limited use if it cannot meet the current‐carrying requirements. However, current‐carrying capacity curves and circuit design guidelines such as those available for conventional copper conductors have not yet been established for printed interconnects, i.e., there is a technological gap in this domain. The present work focuses on assessing the maximum allowed current through an aerosol jet printed silver nanoparticle‐based conductor on a 75 μm thick polyimide substrate. The temperature coefficient of resistance for the printed ink is experimentally determined. The effect of printed ink microstructure on the temperature coefficient of resistance is also investigated. Standard curves are generated that would guide designers to determine the trace width required for an allowed temperature increase. Furthermore, the effect of sintering temperature on the current‐carrying capability is evaluated.