Effects of atmospheric pressure plasma surface treatments on the patternability and electrical property of screen-printed Ag nanopaste

We examined the effect of surface treatment using atmospheric pressure plasma on the patternability of screen-printed Ag nanopaste in an attempt to fabricate the ideal patterned shape. We also evaluated the electrical property of conductive circuit according to the kinds and degree of treatments. In hydrophobic treatment, the contact angle was up to 108.94. In hydrophilic treatment, the contact angle was around 20. The hydrophobic and hydrophilic treatments affected the characteristics of the printed Ag pattern. With the hydrophobic treatment, the thickness of the patterns increased as the treatment time increased but decreased with the hydrophilic treatment. For the electrical property, excessive surface treatment of either treatment increased the insertion losses as compared with a sputtered pattern on a non-treated surface. We confirmed that electrical property and patternability in direct printed conductive circuits could be improved by properly controlled APP treatment.