Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo announced that their conductive silver ink is now available commercially, and they say they are the first company to offer such a prOduct. The silver ink is hardened using UV light - there's no need for thermal hardening, and can be used in a broad range of products - including OLED panels.
The ink needs to be exposed to UV light for around 0.3 seconds, and it then hardens instantaneously even at room temperature to form a current-carrying circuit. For a 5 µm film thickness, wiring was formed with an electric resistivity of 10-3 ohm cm. The ink can be used on both a glass base and a flexible base (PVC or PET films).
Tanaka offers three silver inks with various types of resin and reaction initiator - currently on a sample scale. They are also working on an improved version with better electrical resistance.
