Optimization of electrical conductivity of multilayer additively manufactured microwave components on polymer substrate by Laser sintering

In this contribution, a method for laser sintering of metal traces printed by additive manufacturing (controlled micro-extrusion) with nScrypt technology is investigated. Preliminary tests were conducted to identify a laser source compatible with the selected metallic deposits on a Poly-etherketone-ketone (PEKK) polymer substrate. These tests led to an enhancement in the direct current (DC) conductivity of the printed metallic squares, reaching up to 12.7% of the bulk conductivity of silver. This improvement was achieved within a shorter sintering time compared to conventional oven thermal treatment (17 hours). Subsequently, multilayer planar resonators were fabricated to compare microwave performance with and without laser sintering, showing a 26% improvement in quality factor.