Product Code: ICAL06_M1102

Sintering Nano-particles on Low Temperature Materials
Authors:
James Sears, South Dakota School of Mines & Technology; Rapid City SD USA
Jacob Colvin, South Dakota School of Mines & Technology; Rapid City SD USA
Michael Carter, South Dakota School of Mines & Technology; Rapid City SD USA
Presented at ICALEO 2006

Direct Write (or Printing) technologies uses nano-particle inks and pastes to build mesoscale-scale devices. The term mesoscale refers to sizes from approximately 10 microns to 1000 microns, and covers the range between geometries deposited with the more conventional thin film and thick film processes. These processes begins with dispensing of liquid molecular precursors or colloidal suspensions of metal, dielectric, ferrite, or resistor nano-powders. The dispensing is accomplished by either controlling an aerosol stream or bead of thick viscous paste to produce features with dimensions as small as 10 microns. In a typical configuration, the substrate is placed on a platen that is attached to a high precision CAD/CAM stages, so that intricate geometries may be produced. Either laser, photonic or furnace thermal treatments is used to process the deposit to the desired state. Application of these technologies to the production of direct write inductors, capacitors, and resistors is presented, along with electrical characterization of these components.