Ultrashort laser sintering of metal nanoparticles: A review

The unique shape and size dependant properties of nanoparticles (NPs) are responsible for their emerging, extensive applications in everyday industry. The application of NP inks for printed flexible electronics requires an additional post processing step since the presence of additives and stabilizers in the NP based inks often results in inferior electrical properties of the printed patterns. Laser sintering is a well-established technique for past number of years and is extensively used with continuous wave (CW), long, and short pulsed lasers. The literature is enriched with conventional sintering methods however the field of ultrashort laser sintering is relatively under-reported compared to CW laser and nanosecond laser-based techniques. This study concisely focuses on the potential use of ultrashort laser pulse processing of NPs and NP based thin films. The review provides the recent advances on ultrashort lasers sintering with a key focus on femtosecond laser pulses.