Assembly of Components on Inkjet-Printed Silver Structures by Soldering

Digital printing technologies are well suited for structured deposition of functional materials such as nanoparticular metal inks on different substrates. Inkjet printing as a maskless and direct writing technology is very suitable for the manufacturing of low-cost devices and packages, e.g., for highly integrated sensor systems. The availability of printable materials is ever expanding and enables new capabilities in many applications. Currently, nanoparticular silver inks are very popular for inkjet printing of conductive paths. However, at present, the availability of reliable technologies for the assembly of electrical components is a challenge. In this paper, the soldering of chip resistors on inkjet-printed silver structures was investigated.