Kuprion Inc. (San Jose, CA)
What is a Patent for To make low-temperature, flexible and flexible electronic antennas and electronics Copper nanoparticles are utilized in the application of processes
Search Patent for To make low-temperature, flexible and flexible electronic antennas and electronics Copper nanoparticles are utilized in the application of processes
Field
The present invention is related to printed electronics, and specifically, the development of circuit elements using copper nanoparticles.
Description of Related Art
Electrical assemblies for current are made by a rigid substrate. The individual components are attached to the substrate, and connected by conductive paths or “traces”. The traces are usually formed on the substrate’s surface by covering the substrate with copper , then masking the copper with an interconnect design using the use of a photolithographic process. Then, the unmasked copper is etched away. The etching process can often limit the separation of the traces. Complex circuits are constructed with multiple layers of circuit trace separated by insulating layers, with connections between the conductive layers created by holes between the insulating layers that are filled with conductive materials. These interlayer connections are referred to as “vias.” These interlayer connections are known as “vias”.
The need to integrate electronics in smaller or curvy packaging has led to the development of flexible substrates where the traces are created by etching and plating like is the case with rigid substrates, or by screen printing a conductive material on the flexible substrate. These flexible printed circuits (FPCs) are limited in the division of circuit elements, referred to as the “pitch” of the traces, in the same way as convention rigid PCB fabrication since they utilize the same process to create the circuits.
The capability to print directly circuit elements has been invented over the past decade, or so to take advantage of low-cost printing technologies. To create circuits with carbon-based compounds that are conductive or metals commonly used printing techniques like gravure, offset, gravure, offset and inkjet lithography are utilized. Each method has advantages and disadvantages with regard to resolution, throughput, and expense. Circuits made of carbon-based compounds have lower conductivity than circuits made of metal. Temperatures up to 300.degree are required for metal inks. C. for the fusion of metal particles into a continuous conductor strip. This limits the substrate to materials which can stand up to this temperature.
It would be extremely beneficial to be able to produce high-conductivity circuits that are flexible and rigid substrates.
The invention permits printing of electronic circuits or elements with copper nanoparticles. This permits the design of copper circuits on a variety of flexible and rigid substrates with pitches that are less than 100 micrometers. Nanoparticles that have a diameter of less than 20 nanometers are preferred. It is preferred that they are smaller than 10 nanometers. The nanoparticles will meld when they touch the substrate. It’s like inkjet printing. The copper nanoparticles are printed with a pattern or fused with a short-duration pulse or at temperatures of less than 200.degree. C., and preferably below 70.degree. C. Copper nanoparticles of this size can be fused by pressure like compression under an aform or by tracing the desired pattern using a mechanical stylus, such as a nanoinscriber. The techniques for making circuit elements can be used with substrate materials that are flexible and can endure the extreme temperatures and chemical content of the current processes. The methods of printing and creating circuit elements using copper nanoparticles, as described in the present document also enable finer pitch circuits, i.e. it is possible to create smaller separationdistances among elements that are conductive than other processes. Circuit elements made from copper nanoparticles may include passive devices like resistors, capacitors, and inductors, active devices such as transistors, Radio Frequency(RF) elements like reflectors, antennae and waveguides, additional circuit elements like power and ground planes, shielding, as well as signal paths, and even complete devices like the Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) tag.
A circuit element described in certain embodiments includes a first layer made of metal and nanoparticles fused of copper.
A circuit assembly described in certain embodiments includes a substrate and first layer of metal that is coupled to it. The first layer of the metal contains fused nanoparticles of copper that had a diameter less than 20 nanometers prior to being fused.
A circuit printing device shown in certain embodiments is a sprayer that emits several drops of a mix of nanoparticles that contain copper with smaller than 20 nanometers, and then lands on a substrate with sufficient velocity. The nanoparticles then meld to one another when they come into contact on the substrate. Each dot is made up of the microparticles that have been fused and the dots that overlap are fused to one another.
A method of creating an conductive element on substrates is described in specific embodiments. The method comprising the step of spraying a plurality of drops of a mix comprising nanoparticles that comprise copper and have a diameter less than 20 nanometers on the substrate at a speed such that the nanoparticles fuse with each other when they come into contact with the substrate and form a plurality of dots on the substrate which each dot is comprised of the layer of fused nanoparticles andoverlapping dots are fused to each other.
A method of creating a conductor on a substrate is described in various embodiments. This technique involves the following steps: applying a layer of a mixture consisting of nanoparticles of copper that have a diameter of less than 20nanometers on at least one portion of the substrate’s surface and then fusing them together in the remaining layer of the layer.
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