A Review on Intense Pulsed Light Sintering Technologies for Conductive Electrodes in Printed Electronics

Intense pulsed light (IPL) sintering or annealing technology has attracted tremendous attention from many researchers and a variety of industries owing to its unique features. In IPL process, the pulsed white flash-light from xenon lamp is irradiated on the target materials and converts it to the desired conductive layer. The IPL process is ambient condition and room temperature process. The irradiated IPL on the materials can induce an extremely quick heating (several milliseconds) to the certain temperature by the synergetic opto-chemical, opto-thermal phenomena without damage on the low temperature substrates such as polymer and paper. The exact mechanisms of these opto-synergetic phenomena has been intensively studied by many researchers for a decade. Also, the applications of IPL techniques have become more extensive in printed electronics. In this review, we summarized the brief history and various applications of the intense pulsed light technology to conductive electrodes as well as several applications. The IPL process can provide a paved route to revolutionary eco-benign and low-cost manufacturing process for many applications.