Laser processing of printed electronic layers

Printed electronics are increasingly relevant to the large-scale industrialization and commer- cialization of integrated sensors and functionalities. To equip high-value components with printed sensors medium lot sizes, direct printing of functionalities onto a semi-finished or finished component is the most automatable approach to manufacturing. However, the thermal post-treatment of printed layers is often not possible or can only be achieved with compromises using conventional oven processes, either for reasons of energy and thus cost efficiency, com- ponent size, loss of mechanical properties or insufficient thermal load capacity of the compo- nents used.

The use of laser radiation for thermal post-treatment of printed functionalities offers ad- vantages in these application scenarios. Due to the local heat input, sensors printed directly on components can be selectively and quickly post treated. On the one hand, this saves energy in production and thus costs. On the other hand, it enables the automation of the entire sensor production directly on a component or a semi-finished product on a machine tool or production

Further advantages are the significantly shorter processing times of laser processing com- pared to oven processes as well as the complete 3D compatibility of the process.

We will present the possibilities and advantages of combined printing and laser processes for manufacturing embedded sensors. We will show how these technologies can be combined with other manufacturing processes to open up new possibilities for the production of component-connected functionalities.