Silver–Organic Complex in Photosensitive Silver Pastes for Enhanced Resolution and Aspect Ratio

Traditional screen printing is an easy approach commonly used for conductive pattern fabrication of electronics but lacks high resolution. Photolithography offers better resolution but is complex. Photosensitive silver pastes (PSP) combine the benefits of both but suffer from undercut issues, causing uneven etching, decreased interfacial adhesion, and thus poor resolutions. In this study, we explore the use of molecular precursors (i.e., silver oxalate) to replace metallic silver particles and enhance the depth of light penetration. Our findings demonstrate a successful solution to the undercut issue, achieving an undercut index of 1.0, indicating an undercut-free scenario and enabling higher resolutions in line and pattern formation. Additionally, our research confirms the feasibility of multilayer stacking of photosensitive pastes, achieving unprecedented aspect ratios in line patterns. By replacing 25% of micrometer silver powder with silver oxalate (PSP-25), we achieved optimal line widths as fine as 10 μm. The three-layer stack of PSP-25 reached a substantial aspect ratio with a height of 29.4 μm and an optimal fringe pattern resolution of 10 μm line width with a 15 μm aisle width. Utilization of silver oxalate was observed to slightly expand the line width, likely due to light scattering by the fine silver nanoparticles (∼40 nm) formed during the photodecomposition of silver oxalate.