Silver film prepared by spark ablation for conductive pattern

In this work, spark ablation method is used to generate silver nanoparticles, which are deposited on a silicon substrate to prepare a silver conductive film. The element, purity, film thickness, microstructure and electrical conductivity of silver conductive film were measured by X-ray diffractometer, energy dispersive spectrometer, step profiler, four-point probe tester and scanning electron microscopy. The conductive film is heated by thermal sintering to promote the agglomeration of silver nanoparticles to reduce the resistivity of the film. The influences of sintering temperature on the conductivity of the films were investigated. The results showed that when the sintering temperature is 300°C and the sintering time is 30min, the silver conductive film deposited for 20min with a thickness of 4 µm and the electrical conductivity of 4.31×106 S m−1 can be attained.