Product Code: ICA11_M801

Drawing Electronic Circuits-The Production of Electronic Components with Embedded Direct Written Circuits Using Holographic Beam Manipulation
Authors:
Shuai Hou, Loughborough University; Loughborough Great Britain
John Tyrer, Loughborough University; Loughborough Great Britain
Presented at ICALEO 2011

This work describes the fabrication of silver/polymeric matrix conductive tracks on a low density polyethylene (LDPE) structure using laser direct writing technology. This has enabled the direct writing of 3-dimensional small circuit boards when discrete electronic components are included into the writing process. In this project, the laser beam was reconstructed by diffractive optical elements (DOE) to a desirable energy distribution which can generate even heat distribution in the paste. The deposited silver paste was scanned by laser, using different input powers and scanning speeds. A DSC test of the paste was used to identify its thermal properties; the resistivity of the conductive track was measured by 4-point probe technique; the surface topography and cross-section microstructure were investigated by Alicona InfiniteFocus and field emission gun scanning electron microscopy (FEG-SEM), respectively; the monitoring of the surface condition during laser curing process was observed by high speed camera. The results showed that by using the DOE, the paste can be cured rapidly and the achieved conductive track shows a lower resistivity compared with the oven cured one (at 200oC for 0.5h); and a more stable curing process with an unexpected segmentation phenomenon was achieved when compared with the Gaussian beam cured results.