A Transmission Method for Conductivity Extraction of Printed Silver Ink

This paper presents a measurement method being capable of characterizing impact from sintering on reached electrical conductivity of nano silver inks. Therefore, a measurement setup at relatively low frequencies was chosen, so that the electromagnetic (EM) field completely penetrates the conductive region. Thus, the transmission which is highly influenced by the conductivity variations of the material under test can be measured. Even small variations due to different sintering temperatures are measurable in this way. A model describing the transmission of the EM-field through the material sample including a carrier layer of polyimide was set up, which allows for inferring the conductivity of the sample. As samples sputtered copper layers are examined, as well as nano silver inks sintered at different temperatures and with different sintering methods.