Photonic Curing and the PulseForge Toolset Stan Farnsworth VP Marketing May 2014

NovaCentrix® Printed Electronics Manufacturing Quick Profile Tool Integrators Raw Materials Mfg Materials Material Handlers Printers Dryers Curing Tools Device/ Application Industry product types Ink components; Raw substrates Inks; Substrates Roll-to-roll; Conveyors Inkjet; Screen; Aerosol; Flexo; Gravure; Ovens; Air knives; New Tech Ovens; UV Lamps; Lasers; Pulsed Thermal Processing; New Tech Solar; RFID; Batteries; Transistors; Displays; Packaging; Smart cards Metalon® inks Novele™ substrates PulseForge® tools SimPulse™ thermal simulator Nanoparticles NovaCentrix was founded in 1999 as a nanotechnology company. Expertise in nanomaterials, pulsed power, equipment design, electronic inks. Creative technology team has developed an extensive patent portfolio. We bring our expertise to our customers to generate value for them by helping them solve their problems. Since NovaCentrix is involved in several parts of the supply chain, it is able to provide better value to its customers by understanding their problems. Our long history and experience with nanotechnology enables vertical integration of our products. Quick Profile Initially established in 1999 in Austin, TX Employees: ~40 : Facilities: ~4000m2 Competencies: Plasma physics, high-power (MW) electronics, nanomaterials, numerical modeling, machine systems design, dispersions and formulations

Product Snapshot PulseForge ® Photonic Curing Tools Metalon ® Conductive Inks SimPulse ® Numerical Simulation Also: Ag, Ni, Co, others

What is Photonic Curing? Using carefully timed and controlled flashlamps to heat only the surface and not the entire thickness of the material. Exposure time is usually less than 1 millisecond. Allows use of high-temp materials on low-temp substrates. Organic and inorganic inks (including ITO, Si) Polymer, paper, glass NovaCentrix is the process originator, and holder of key patents. Temperature Distance from Surface Thin Film/Substrate Interface Thin Film Substrate Pulsed Light

“Basic” Photonic Curing Pulse: What is it? Basic pulse shape Simple ON-OFF cycle. Can be repeated. Basic pulse suitable for depositions <10 um Before After Inkjet Ag (Metalon JS-B25P) @ <1 um Notice sintering after photonic curing.

Pulse Shaping: Advanced Pulse Structures Conventional Pulse Pulse Shaping Pulse Shaping: Multiple pulses acting within the thermal equilibrium time of the material. Equivalent energy but composite pulse allows better control of temperature profile. Preferred pulse structure for many thicker depositions as well as for drying.

Advanced Pulse Structures Required Without pulse shaping, processing screen-printed inks can fail. With pulse shaping, processing screen-printed inks is optimized. Skinning and pitting Optimal surface and curing Optimized electrical performance. Delamination Warped substrate

Innovation: Copper Oxide Reduction Ink Copper inks are of interest Cu costs much less than Ag Cu has 90% of the conductivity of Ag Traditional copper nanoinks are problematic True Cu inks want to oxidize, especially nanoparticle inks Stable nanoparticle inks of true Cu are usually expensive, outweighing cost benefits New Approach Instead of fighting oxidation, begin with particles in their terminal state: fully oxidized. Converts to conductive Cu during processing with PulseForge tool. Metalon ICI-021: Water-based Nano copper oxide particles Reduction agent Water and ethylene glycol Sheet resistance ~15 mOhm/sq Very economical pricing

Copper Oxide Reduction Ink and Pulse Shaping To convert the copper oxide to copper, certain elevated temperature must be reached and sustained long enough for the reaction to complete. The exact required temperature and time are not known a priori for a given system: too low or too high will yield poor results. Pulse Configurations Resulting Thermal Simulation (Generated using SimPulse) Shaped Pulse (top) Basic Pulse (bottom) This Basic Pulse creates temperature too hot and too short. Shaped Pulse creates optimal temperature for optimal time.

R&D to Production Different chassis Shared components PulseForge 1200/1300 PulseForge 3200/3300 Different chassis Shared components Lamps Reflector housings Power supplies User interface

Separation of Functions Power supplies and lamp controllers Water cooling Lamp housing Cables Material conveyance User interface Controls, work surface

Configurable Process Width

Designed for Value and Performance Throughout the design and development process for the PulseForge 3200 tools, careful thought was given to identifying key design topics. Interviews with external industry leaders as well as internal experts in the NovaCentrix inks and applications teams contributed to design attributes that are embodied in the current tool architecture. Design Priorities Safety Access interlocks Automatic system operation monitoring Performance State-of-the-art engineering allows optimization of application processing Economic operation Extremely long lamp lifetimes with quick and tool-free lamp changes No warm-up time required prior to operation Water-cooled for continuous operation at max rated power Ease of operation Advanced custom operating system and user interface Process settings can be saved and accessed for future production Ease of integration into Customer’s Quality Management System On-board recording of each pulse profile and lamp output can be linked and traced to specific item Process conditions can easily be shared between R&FD and production PulseForge tools

Thank You www.novacentrix.com Contact our partners or us directly with questions or for samples processing. www.novacentrix.com