New conductive polymer thick films enable fine line screen printing

Five Star Technologies announced that it will introduce ElectroSperse™ P-series silver-based conductor pastes. The new pastes are designed for use on low temperature plastic substrates typically found in such applications as display electrodes, touch screen sensors, heaters, RFID antenna, biosensors and membrane switches. The initial P-series products are targeted for use in touch screen sensors, combining high productivity and ease of use with excellent conductivity and exceptional printability. The new pastes demonstrate excellent adhesion to a variety of flexible media, including ITO (Indium Tin Oxide)-coated polyester.

Like all pastes in the ElectroSperse line, the P-series products contain a highly uniform dispersion of silver with a tightly controlled particle size distribution in the low to sub-micron range. Such uniformity enables customers to directly print features as small as 50 um with much greater precision and consistency than conventional pastes, eliminating the need for costly subtractive processes. Initial grades are intended for screen printing applications, but Five Star will soon introduce a series of products with controlled rheology to match a variety of printing processes.

The ElectroSperse line also includes D-series silver-based cermet pastes, designed for firing onto glass and other high temperature substrates. D-series pastes are available in both leaded and lead-free versions and offer a unique combination of high conductivity, fine line printing, strong adhesion to coated-glass substrates. Specific grades are available with firing temperatures as low as 380C, a temperature that often lends itself to significantly greater overall product stability. D-series pastes are ideal for printed interconnects and linearization patterns in capacitive and 5-wire resistive touch screen sensors.

About Five Star Technologies
Five Star Technologies is a supplier of high-performance dispersions, inks and pastes used in displays, photovoltaics and microelectronic packaging applications. Combining its patented hydrodynamic cavitation process with innovative chemistry, Five Star produces the ElectroSperse series of inks and pastes as well as a wide range of precision dispersions. All Five Star products exhibit unparalleled rheological stability and exceptional particle size control, creating the future in functional inks.