In a bid to further reduce the cost of the front Ag contact metallization in Si solar cells, Cu is the potential alternative to replace the Ag in the Ag paste. However, this requires an understanding of the contact mechanism of screen-printable Ag/Cu paste in Si solar cell through rapid thermal process. The pastes with different weight percent of Cu (0 wt%, 25 wt% and 50 wt%) were used and the Voc of the cells was reduced with the increasing weight percent of Cu. This is because the presence of Cu in the paste changed the microstructure of the Ag/Cu/Si contact through Cu doping of the glass frits and hence increasing the Tg of the glass. The increased Tg of the glass impeded the uniform spreading of the molten glass and resulted in poor wetting and etching of the SiNx, which impacted the contact as evident in ideality factor of less than unity. This also led to the formation of agglomerated Ag crystallites with features of 700 nm in length and 200 nm in depth, which is close to the p-n junction, of which depth is ∼300 nm. However, the interface glass layer acted as an effective diffusion barrier layer to prevent Cu atoms from diffusing into the Si emitter, which is quite remarkable for Cu not to diffuse into silicon at high temperature. Further investigation of the Ag/Cu contacts with the conductive AFM in conjunction with the SEM and STEM analyses revealed that the growth of Ag crystallites in the Si emitter is responsible for carrier conduction the gridlines as with the pure Ag paste.

The impact of the Al and Ge ratio in the Al-Ge pastes are investigated for fabricating the single crystalline Si1-xGex thick layers on large area Si substrates by screen-printing metallization process. From X-ray reciprocal space maps, Ge fraction in the fabricated Si1-xGex thick layers are found to increase up to 40% with increasing the Ge ratio in the Al-Ge pastes. On the other hand, the interface of the Si and Si1-xGex layers are getting winding with increasing the Ge ratio in the Al-Ge pastes. The Al-Si-Ge phase diagram indicated that uniform SiGe layer can be fabricated by adjusting the Al-Ge ratio in the pastes within the liquid phase region.

Polysilicon complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) thin film transistors (TFTs) are fabricated on large area, flexible stainless steel foils using novel ink depositions within a hybrid printed/conventional process flow. A self-aligned top gate TFT structure is realized with an additive materials approach to substitute the use of high capital cost ion implantation and lithography processes. Polyhydrosilane-based silicon ink is coated and laser crystallized to form the polysilicon channel. Semiconductor grade P-type and N-type unique dopant ink formulations are screen printed and combined with thermal drive in and activation to form self-aligned doped source and drain regions. A high refractory top gate material is chosen for its process compatibility with printed dopants, chemical resistance, and work function. Steel foil substrates are fully encapsulated to allow for high temperature processing. The resultant materials set and process flow enables TFT electrical characteristics with NMOS and PMOS mobilities exceeding 120 cm2/Vs and 60 cm2/Vs, respectively. On/Off ratios are >107. Reproducibility, uniformity, and reliability data in a production environmental is shown to demonstrate high volume, high throughput manufacturability. The device characteristics and scheme enable NFC (13.56MHz) capable circuits for use in flexible NFC and display-based smart labels and packaging.

Stainless steel substrates enable a combination of low cost, flexibility, durability, high processing temperatures, and sub-100 um thickness making it well suited for sheet based and roll-to-roll processing. NFC (13.56 MHz) based circuits using high performance polysilicon TFTs on steel sheets have been manufactured using a hybrid printed process in a production environment. The process scheme utilizes a hybrid, additive materials approach encompassing low cost manufacturing steps such as slot die coating and screen printing of silicon and dopant inks to enable a high throughput, low cost, manufacturing flow. This paper describes the approach for migrating from a sheet-based hybrid process flow to a R2R-based process. A comparison of substrate choices and considerations for R2R process integration is presented. A sensitive electrical method for evaluating the feasibility of R2R-based process integration schemes and materials selection is presented. MIM capacitor leakage, TFT device characteristics, NFC circuit performance, and defect density considerations are shown as a function of steel substrate bending, down to a diameter of 0.75 inches. Electrical characteristics and optical inspections show no measurable change to insulator characteristics, demonstrating a high degree of flexibility and overall device and process capability for R2R processing.

Exposure to volatile organic compounds can lead to asphyxiation, pneumonia like conditions, comas, seizures and irreversible lung, kidney and central nervous system damage. Volatile organics are additionally extremely flammable and explosive, making their early detection in the immediate environment increasingly important. Metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) gas sensors present a potential technology to detect such gases.

Metal oxide semiconducting (MOS) gas sensors represent a cheap, robust and sensitive technology for detecting volatile organic compounds. An array of five thick film MOS gas sensors was fabricated, based on vanadium pentoxide inks. Production took place using a commercially available screen printer, a 3 x 3 mm alumina substrate containing interdigitated electrodes and a platinum heater track. V2O5 inks were modified using zeolite beta, zeolite Y, mordenite & ZSM5 admixtures. Sensors were exposed to three common reducing gases, namely acetone, ethanol, and toluene, and a machine learning technique was applied to differentiate between the different gases. Sensors produced strong responses to all gases. Zeolite modified sensors were found to increase the responsiveness of the sensors compared to umodified V2O5 in a number of cases. Machine learning techniques were incorporated to test the selectivity of the sensors. A high level of accuracy was achieved in determining the class of gas observed.

Flexible zinc-air batteries were fabricated using an inexpensive screen-printing technique. The anode and cathode current collectors were printed using commercial nano-silver conductive ink on a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate and a polypropylene (PP) membrane, respectively. Air cathodes made of blended carbon black with inexpensive metal oxides including manganese oxide (MnO2) and cerium oxide (CeO2), were studied. The presence of the metal oxides in the air cathodes enhanced the oxygen reduction reaction which is the most important cathodic reaction in zinc-air batteries. The battery with 20 %wt CeO2 showed the highest performance and provided an open-circuit voltage of 1.6 V and 5 – 240 mA.cm-2 ohmic loss zone. The discharge potential of this battery at the current density of 5 mA.cm-2 was nearly 0.25 V higher than that of the battery without metal oxides. Finally, the battery was tested for its flexibility by bending it so that its length decreased from 2.5 to 1 cm. The results showed that the bending did not affect characteristics on potential voltage and discharging time of the batteries fabricated.

Development of transparent electrodynamic screens (EDS) printed on ultrathin flexible glass film substrates for retrofitting on solar panels and solar mirrors to perform self cleaning function is reviewed. Large-scale solar plants are generally installed in semi-arid and desert areas where dust layers build up on solar collectors causes major energy-yield loss. Maintaining designed plant capacities requires more than 90% reflectivity for CSP mirrors and 90% transmission efficiency for PV modules; solar collectors must therefore be cleaned at a frequency depending on the rate of dust deposition. Scarcity of water in these regions requires a cleaning method that drastically reduces or eliminates water and the associated labor costs for high efficiency operation of large-scale solar plants. An EDS film consists of rows of interdigitated, transparent conducting parallel electrodes embedded within a flexible ultrathin glass film and an optically clear adhesive film used for retrofitting the film on the surface of solar collectors. When phased voltage pulses activate the electrodes, the dust particles are first electrostatically charged, then repelled and removed from the surface of the solar collectors by Coulomb force, restoring transmission efficiency greater than 90%. The electrodes of EDS are either made from silver nanowire or another conductive transparent material printed on a highly transparent, ultrathin (100-μm thick), flexible borosilicate glass film. Applications of different conducting transparent electrodes and methods of printing are reviewed for optimizing self-cleaning function of solar panels and mirrors.

As electronic devices are indispensable in many aspects of our lives today, their integration with unconventional surfaces is increasingly essential. Electronic devices which maintain their electrical properties upon stretching are desirable for various wearable applications. Stretchable devices demonstrated are conventionally fabricated using semiconductor processing techniques. In this study, we demonstrate stretchable electrodes, which are basic components of electrical circuits, using screen printing, a large area printing method. It provides a low cost and scalable method to fabricate large area stretchable devices. Despite the larger width and thickness of the electrodes which increases the stiffness of the material, stretchability beyond 40% is demonstrated, which is suitable for certain wearable applications. The stretchable electrodes are integrated with light emitting diodes (LEDs) to demonstrate a stretchable LED matrix. The large area LED matrices exhibit variable stretchability, depending on the LED areal coverage. This technique is expected to be applicable in the fabrication of other stretchable, large area, and more complex electronic systems.

Undoped and Li-doped ZnO films were fabricated by screen printing approach on sapphire substrate. The effect of Li doping and annealing temperature on the luminescent, optical, electrical and structural properties of the films has been investigated by the photoluminescence (PL), Raman scattering, conductivity, Atomic Force microscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD) methods. The XRD study revealed that the films have polycrystalline wurtzite structure with grain sizes ranging from 26 to 38 nm. In the undoped ZnO films, the increase of annealing temperature from 800 to 1000 °C resulted in the increase of the grain sizes, film conductivity and the intensity of the ultraviolet PL. The introduction of Li of low concentration of 0.003 wt % at 800 °C or 900 °C allows producing the low-resistive films with enhanced ultraviolet PL and reduced density of crystalline defects. Highly doped films (with 0.3 wt % of Li) were found to be semi-insulating with deteriorated PL properties irrespectively of the annealing temperature. It is shown that introduction of Li in the ZnO films affects their PL spectra mainly via the evolution of the film crystallinity and the density of intrinsic defects.

Stretchable wires were printed on fabrics using an acrylic-based paste loaded with Ag flakes, and their fatigue properties examined. The electrical conductivity of the wires significantly decreased during a cyclic tensile test, because of a decrease in their elastic moduli (Mullins softening) as well as fatigue cracking. Because the electrical resistance and elastic moduli of the damaged samples were partially recovered by annealing at 100 °C, fatigue damage introduced to the wires was divided into reversible and irreversible components, where cracking is the irreversible damage. Although crack bridging by fibrils could occur during the fatigue test, no crack healing was observed during annealing. In contrast, fatigue damage from Mullins softening of the wires could be recovered during annealing. The recovery of electrical conductivity occurs mostly in the initial stage of rearrangement of polymer structure during annealing.

Microfluidic paper-based analytical devices (μPADs) use the passive capillary-driven flow of aqueous solutions through patterned paper channels to transport a sample fluid into distinct detection zones that contain the reagents for a chemical assay. These devices are simple, affordable, portable, and disposable; they are, thus, well suited for diagnostic applications in resource-limited environments. Adding screen-printed electrodes to the detection zones of a μPAD yields a device capable of performing electrochemical assays (an EμPAD). Electrochemical detection has the advantage over colorimetric detection that it is not affected by interference from the color of the sample and can be quantified with simple electronics. The accessibility of EμPADs, however, is limited by the requirement for an external potentiostat to power and interpret the electrochemical measurement. New developments in paper-based electronics may help loosen this requirement. This review discusses the current capabilities and limitations of EμPADs and paper-based electronics, and sketches the ways in which these technologies can be combined to provide new devices for diagnostic testing.

In this work, lanthanide-doped, sodium yttrium fluoride nanocrystals were prepared and dispersed in a solvent consisting of 90 vol% toluene and 10 vol% methyl benzoate. Poly (methyl methacrylate) polymer was dissolved in the solvent, in addition to the nanocrystals. Inks were printed using direct-write techniques. Substrates used included Kapton®, bond paper, metal and glass. Stencil patterns and QR codes were printed with these inks. An overview of direct write printing for security applications is given. On many substrates, these printed traces are difficult to detect in ambient lighting, but can be easily read using near-infrared (NIR) illumination, making them very useful for covert and semi-covert security printing applications.

While the global market for photovoltaic (PV) modules continues to grow 30% - 40% annually, manufacturers are looking at advanced technologies and cell concepts in order to improve the cost performance and reliability. One of the challenges faced by the silicon (Si) PV manufacturers is the lack of efficient metal screen-printing technologies. While screen-printing is a long-established technology, THE traditional silver-based pastes have technical limits in terms of paste composition, drying and thermal-firing conditions, line-width, aspect ratio, contact resistance, etc. Such limits keep the industrial cell structure from being close to an ideal PV cell architecture. In an effort to develop alternate printable pastes electrically, electrically conductive adhesives are considered in this study to provide fine-line contacts and low thermal budget so that performance-driven solar cell designs can be reliably implemented in manufacturing. Mechanical properties of solar cell printed by conductive adhesives are experimentally investigated in this work and confirmed with the simulation results.

A soluble polyaniline was synthesized through emulsion polymerization and characterized using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), gel permeation chromatography (GPC), viscosity analysis, and coefficient of linear thermal expansion (CLTE) determination. The electrical conductivity is found to reach 1000 S/cm with specific post doping treatments. Multiple printing processes, such as inkjet printing, screen printing and aerosol jet printing etc, make it feasible to print a variety of sensor patterns. The electromechanical response of these sensors was used to measure strain/stress or damage of composite structures under various load conditions expected to be experienced by aircraft. These unique conductive polymer sensors provide a feasible, near real time monitoring system for composites without adding significant additional weight to the structure.

CuInGaSe2 (CIGS) is a prominent thin-film photovoltaic material. However, commonly used physical vapour deposition and sputtering techniques used to fabricate CIGS thin-film photovoltaic (PV) devices are complex and expensive. Therefore non-vacuum deposition techniques such as paste coating, spray pyrolysis and electro deposition are gaining more attention in recent years. Our intention is to choose a low cost non-vacuum technique like mechano-chemical synthesis of CIGS powder, followed by screen printing. Mechano chemical synthesis is a process that induces physical and/or chemical change in the compounds by mechanical energy, such as pulverization, friction or compression. This method has some advantages for the mass production of CIGS solar cells, high productivity and short processing cycle time. In the present work CIGS powders suitable for screen-printing ink has been prepared by ball milling. High purity elemental copper granules (>99.9% pure), selenium and indium powders (>99.9% pure) and fine chips of gallium (>99.9% pure) were used as the starting materials. Ball milling was carried out for an optimized composition of CuIn0.75Ga0.25Se2 using a SPEX-8000 mixer/mill at 1200 rpm for 1.5 hours. X-ray diffraction analysis of the milled powder shows the presence of (112), (220)/ (204), (312)/ (116), (400) and (332) peaks corresponding to CIGS chalcopyrite structure with a preferential orientation along (112) peak. The average grain size calculated by Scherrer’s formula is about 12.24 nm. Crystallographic structure of the prepared CIGS powder was analyzed by Rietveld analysis using X-ray powder diffraction data. Geometry optimization of the structure was performed and the basic structural properties have been evaluated by density functional approximation and compared with experimental results. Density of states has been simulated for the same structure inorder to have a better understanding of the distribution of atomic orbitals. FESEM analysis shows the agglomeration of nano particles. Particle size varied from 11 to 30nm. Final composition of the milled powder studied by Energy dispersive X-ray analysis gives 24.39 at% Cu, 21.42 at% In, 7.22 at% Ga and 46.97 at% Se. HRTEM analysis reveals the presence of nano crystalline particles. The interplanar distance (d-spacing) corresponding to (112), (220)/ (204), (512)/ (417) and (620)/ (604) diffraction peaks has been estimated and compared with standard values and the corresponding diffraction pattern has been simulated with simulaTEM software. CIGS ink is prepared by proper mixing of the powder with a suitable organic binder (ethyl cellulose). Screen printing is carried out on glass substrates, followed by annealing at 5 different temperatures of 300,350,400,450 and 500 degrees, in order to form a porous CIGS film. XRD analysis was carried out to study the structure of screen printed CIGS.

We prepared fine Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) powder suitable for screen printing using a mechanochemical synthesis and wet bead milling. Particulate precursors were deposited in a layer by a screen-printing technique, and the porous precursor layer was sintered into a dense polycrystalline film by atmospheric-pressure firing in an N2 gas atmosphere. The microstructure of CIGS powder and fired CIGS film were observed in an SEM. The wet bead milling was effective for the reduction and homogenization of the average grain size of CIGS powder. The CIGS grains in the film were well sintered and the size of CIGS grains was as large as about 2 μm. The CIGS solar cell showed an efficiency of 3.1%, with Voc of 0.279 V, Jsc of 28.8 mA/cm2 and FF of 0.386.

This paper identifies some mechanisms that lead to problems in back Al contact formation. Major issues are related to a basic problem that the Al melt has a large surface tension and tries to ball up during the firing step. Other issues arise from dissolution of the Si-Al interface and entrapment of glass within the Si-Al alloy. Si diffusion into Al can be applied to control the melt, while cooling rate can help improve the structure of various regions of the back contact for a favorable series resistance. We also discuss a modified time-temperature profile that can lead to a deep and uniform back-surface field.

Anode-supported planar solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) was successfully fabricated by a single step co-firing process. The cell comprised of a porous Ni + yittria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) anode support, a porous and fine-grained Ni + YSZ anode active layer, a dense YSZ electrolyte, a fine-grained porous Ca-doped LaMnO3 (LCM) + YSZ composite cathode active layer, and a porous LCM cathode current collector layer. The cell was tested between 700˜800oC with humidified hydrogen (97% H2+3% H2O) as fuel and air as oxidant. The measured maximum power densities were 1.42W/cm2 at 800°C, 1.20W/cm2 at 750°C, and 0.87W/cm2 at 700°C. The cell was also tested at 800oC with various compositions of oxidant, and cell parameters including the area specific ohmic resistance, exchange current density, and anodic and cathodic limiting current densities were determined using the polarization model and impedance spectroscopy.

A large area carbon nanotube cathode was fabricated by use of a screen printing method. The emission properties of the cathode were investigated in both direct current and pulse mode experiments. In the direct current mode, the cathode has high field enhancement factor and high emission current density. In the double-pulse mode, the emission current density can approach 267 A/cm2 at an applied electric field of 15.4 V/um. Steady intense electron beams were obtained from the cathode. The results proved that the emission mechanism of CNTs at pulse electric field is plasma-induced field emission. The carbon nanotube cathode is suitable for not only field emission display applications but also high-power microwave device applications.

Among different MEMS wafer level bonding processes glass frit bonding provides reliable vacuum tight seals in volume production. The quality of the seal is a function of both seal glass materials and the processing parameters used in glass frit bonding. Therefore, in this study Taguchi L18 screening Design of Experiment (DOE) was used to study the effect of materials and process variables on the quality of the glass seal in 6” silicon wafers bonded in EVG520IS bonder. Six bonding process variables at three levels and two types of sealing glass pastes were considered. The seals were characterized by Scanning Acoustic Microscopy (SAM), cross sectional Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDAX). The results were quantified into four responses for DOE analysis. Key results are a) peak temperature has the strongest influence on seal properties, b) hot melt paste has significantly lower defects compared to liquid paste, and c) peak firing temperatures can be as low as 400°C under certain conditions.