Effect of process conditions on the properties of conductive tracks in direct imprinting and sintering of metal nano-powders

A direct patterning process which uses imprinting and sintering of metal nano-powder to make conductive tracks where sintering was performed during imprinting process was designed. A silicon mold for making conductive tracks was designed and fabricated using photolithography and reactive ion etching (RIE). The effect of process conditions on pattern formation was investigated experimentally. To confirm the feasibility of the direct patterning method as an industrial process, the microstructure and electrical resistivity of the fabricated conductive tracks were analyzed. Various defects were analyzed and based on the analysis, the histories of temperature and pressure were optimized.