Toward conductive traces: Dip Pen Nanolithography® of silver nanoparticle-based inks

Low cost, direct writing of conductive traces is highly desired for applications in nanoelectronics, photonics, circuit repair, flexible electronics, and nanoparticle-based gas detection. The unique ability of Dip Pen Nanolithography (DPN®) to direct write a variety of materials onto suitable surfaces with nanoscale resolution and area-specific patterning is leveraged in this work. We present a direct-write approach toward creating traces with commercially available silver nanoparticle (AgNP)-based inks using DPN. In this work we demonstrate submicron AgNP feature creation together with a discussion on the ink transport mechanism.