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Highly Conductive Nanoparticulate Films Achieved at Low Sintering Temperatures

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Abstract

Nanoparticulate Ag films have been produced by the laser ablation of microparticle aerosol (LAMA) deposition process. LAMA enables the production of thick, nanoparticulate films that are free of organics and offers the ability to control the degree of agglomeration and initial film density. The films were subsequently annealed at a range of temperatures from 100°C to 250°C to densify the films and increase conductivity. We show that, by reducing the degree of agglomeration in the films, sintering of LAMA-produced films occurs at low temperatures and results in near fully dense Ag films that exhibit an order of magnitude higher conductivity when compared to thick films produced by other techniques that are sintered at similar temperatures. Good agreement is observed between experiments and a sintering model that suggests that surface diffusion is dominant at temperatures below 150°C, and a combination of surface and grain boundary diffusion are responsible for sintering at slightly higher temperatures.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Materials Science and Engineering Program, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, USA

    Manuj Nahar, John W. Keto, Michael F. Becker & Desiderio Kovar

  2. Department of Physics, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, USA

    John W. Keto

  3. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, USA

    Michael F. Becker

  4. Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, USA

    Desiderio Kovar

Authors
  1. Manuj Nahar
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  2. John W. Keto
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  3. Michael F. Becker
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  4. Desiderio Kovar
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Correspondence to Manuj Nahar.

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Nahar, M., Keto, J.W., Becker, M.F. et al. Highly Conductive Nanoparticulate Films Achieved at Low Sintering Temperatures. J. Electron. Mater. 44, 2559–2565 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-015-3678-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-015-3678-8

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