Inkjet printable polydimethylsiloxane for all-inkjet printed multilayered, soft electrical applications

In recent years, additive manufacturing of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) has gained interest for the development of soft electronics. To fabricate complex electrical devices, fabrication of multilayered structures is required. We propose here a straightforward digital printing fabrication process of silicone rubber-based, multilayered electronics. An inkjet-printable PDMS solution was developed for digital patterning of elastomeric structures. The silicone ink was used together with a highly conductive silver nanoparticle (Ag np) ink for the fabrication of the all-inkjet printed and multilayered electrical devices. The application of the multilayer circuit board was successful. The sheet resistances were below 0.3 Ω/□, with a conductive layer thickness less than 1 µm. The electrical insulation between the conductive layers was done by printing 20-25 µm thick dielectric PDMS layer selectively on top of the bottommost conductive layer.