Environment-friendly and Cost-effective Imprinted Metallization on Polymeric Substrates for Flexible Circuits

Professor Li, Wendi   (Project Coordinator (PC))

Dr Feng Shien Ping Tony   (Co-Investigator)

17

2018-05-02

2019-10-31

358456

Environment-friendly and Cost-effective Imprinted Metallization on Polymeric Substrates for Flexible Circuits

Environment-friendly, Flexible Circuits, Imprinted Metallization, Polymeric Substrates

Engineering Management

Engineering (E)

InP/108/18

Innovation and Technology Fund Internship Programme

2017

Completed

The objective of this project is to develop an environment-friendly and cost-effective method for selective metallization on polymeric films for flexible printed circuits (FPC) applications. The proposed method combines imprint lithography and electroless plating and has the potential for mass production of FPCs with minimal environmental pollution, reduced manufacturing cost, and increased production throughput. Our method is based on imprinting process using patterned imprint molds, which could pattern and transfer catalytic nanoparticles onto polymer films simultaneously. Then, circuitry patterns are formed in the imprinted structures through electroless plating. The electroless plated metallic circuit patterns are embedded in the polymer films, therefore, have superior flexibility and durability, and also improved adhesion to the substrates. Comparing to conventional FPC manufacturing process currently used in the industry, our method will eliminate a number of costly processes that generate heavy environmental pollution, such as photoresist coating, development, etching and stripping. Therefore, our method is superior to existing FPC manufacturing process with strong potential for emerging flexible consumer electronics applications. Thanks to the high patterning resolution of imprint lithography, our method also has the potential for evolving towards much narrower circuit linewidth as required by future FPCs in more compact consumer electronic devices.