Photonic Curing and the PulseForge Toolset
Stan Farnsworth
VP Marketing
May 2014
NovaCentrix
®
Printed Electronics Manufacturing
Tool Integrators
Raw
Materials
Industry
product types
Ink components;
Raw substrates
Mfg
Materials
Inks;
Substrates
Material
Handlers
Roll-to-roll;
Conveyors
Printers
Inkjet;
Screen;
Aerosol;
Flexo;
Gravure;
®
Nanoparticles
Metalon inks
™
Novele substrates
Dryers
Ovens;
Air knives;
New Tech
Curing
Tools
Ovens;
UV Lamps;
Lasers;
Pulsed
Thermal
Processing;
New Tech
Device/
Application
Solar;
RFID;
Batteries;
Transistors;
Displays;
Packaging;
Smart cards
®
PulseForge tools
SimPulse™ thermal simulator
Quick Profile
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Initially established in 1999 in Austin, TX
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Employees: ~40 : Facilities: ~4000m2
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Competencies: Plasma physics, high-power (MW) electronics, nanomaterials,
numerical modeling, machine systems design, dispersions and formulations
www.novacentrix.com
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Product Snapshot
PulseForge ® Photonic Curing Tools
Metalon ® Conductive Inks
Also: Ag, Ni, Co, others
www.novacentrix.com
SimPulse ® Numerical Simulation
What is Photonic Curing?
Photonic Curing
– Using carefully timed and controlled flashlamps to heat only the surface
and not the entire thickness of the material. Exposure time is usually less
than 1 millisecond.
– Allows use of high-temp materials on low-temp substrates.
– Organic and inorganic inks (including ITO, Si)
– Polymer, paper, glass
Pulsed Light
Thin Film
Substrate
www.novacentrix.com
Temperature
NovaCentrix is the process originator, and holder of key patents.
Thin Film/Substrate
Interface
Distance from Surface
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“Basic” Photonic Curing Pulse: What is it?
Basic pulse shape
Simple ON-OFF cycle.
Can be repeated.
Basic pulse suitable
for depositions <10 um
Inkjet Ag (Metalon JS-B25P)
@ <1 um
Notice sintering after
photonic curing.
www.novacentrix.com
Before
After
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Pulse Shaping: Advanced Pulse Structures
Conventional Pulse
Pulse Shaping
Pulse Shaping: Multiple pulses acting within the thermal equilibrium time of the material.
• Equivalent energy but composite pulse allows better control of temperature profile.
• Preferred pulse structure for many thicker depositions as well as for drying.
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Advanced Pulse Structures Required
Without pulse shaping,
With pulse shaping,
processing screen-printed inks can fail.
processing screen-printed inks is optimized.
Skinning and
pitting
• Optimal surface and
curing
• Optimized electrical
performance.
Delamination
Warped substrate
www.novacentrix.com
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Innovation: Copper Oxide Reduction Ink
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Copper inks are of interest
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Traditional copper nanoinks are
problematic
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Cu costs much less than Ag
Cu has 90% of the conductivity of Ag
True Cu inks want to oxidize,
especially nanoparticle inks
Stable nanoparticle inks of true Cu
are usually expensive, outweighing
cost benefits
New Approach
–
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Instead of fighting oxidation, begin
with particles in their terminal state:
fully oxidized.
Converts to conductive Cu during
processing with PulseForge tool.
www.novacentrix.com
Metalon ICI-021: Water-based
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•
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•
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Nano copper oxide particles
Reduction agent
Water and ethylene glycol
Sheet resistance ~15 mOhm/sq
Very economical pricing
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Copper Oxide Reduction Ink and Pulse Shaping
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To convert the copper oxide to copper, certain elevated temperature must
be reached and sustained long enough for the reaction to complete.
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The exact required temperature and time are not known a priori for a
given system: too low or too high will yield poor results.
Pulse Configurations
Shaped Pulse (top)
Basic Pulse (bottom)
Resulting Thermal Simulation
(Generated using SimPulse)
This Basic Pulse
creates temperature
too hot and too short.
Shaped Pulse creates
optimal temperature
for optimal time.
www.novacentrix.com
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R&D to Production
PulseForge 1200/1300
PulseForge 3200/3300
• Different chassis
• Shared components
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www.novacentrix.com
Lamps
Reflector housings
Power supplies
User interface
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Separation of Functions
Water
cooling
Power supplies and
lamp controllers
Cables
Lamp housing
Material conveyance
User
interface
Controls,
work
surface
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Configurable Process Width
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Designed for Value and Performance
Throughout the design and development process for the PulseForge 3200 tools, careful
thought was given to identifying key design topics. Interviews with external industry
leaders as well as internal experts in the NovaCentrix inks and applications teams
contributed to design attributes that are embodied in the current tool architecture.
Design Priorities
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Safety
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Performance
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Extremely long lamp lifetimes with quick and tool-free lamp changes
No warm-up time required prior to operation
Water-cooled for continuous operation at max rated power
Ease of operation
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State-of-the-art engineering allows optimization of application processing
Economic operation
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Access interlocks
Automatic system operation monitoring
Advanced custom operating system and user interface
Process settings can be saved and accessed for future production
Ease of integration into Customer’s Quality Management System
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www.novacentrix.com
On-board recording of each pulse profile and lamp output can be linked and traced to specific item
Process conditions can easily be shared between R&FD and production PulseForge tools
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Thank You
Contact our partners or us directly
with questions
or for samples processing.
www.novacentrix.com
www.novacentrix.com
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