Touch Screen
ITO Replacement: Silver Salt Ink
ITO Replacement

TOPPAN FORMS CO., LTD., based in Tokyo (Japan), has recently developed a technology for the production of printed microwires that is suitable, for example, for use in touch sensor panels.

Transparent electrodes

The technology is a combination of conductive ink and a corresponding printing process that produces just 4μm (micrometer) wide microwiring based on silver salt ink. These transparent electrodes are a replacement for the previously used ITO and are therefore ideal for devices with wearable sensors, IoT sensors as well as touch panel sensors.

Touchscreen Polycarbonat
ITO Ersatz
The special feature of this new manufacturing process is the microwires, which are just 4μm wide. Conventional printing technology manufacturing processes (e.g. photographic development technology) have produced wires with a width of about 10μm. A size that is not sustainable in the long run with the increasing demand for more power, smaller dimensions and new functions. With the newly developed, more environmentally friendly manufacturing process, this is now set to change.

5 reasons to choose Silver Salt Ink

  1. Microwires (width: 4μm) can be produced by printing
  2. The new ink allows continuous printing on a practical level
  3. Also allows wiring on thinner foils (with a thickness of about 100nm) with superior conductivity (volume resistance: 7μΩ-cm) (Reference: The volume resistance of ITO is 150 to 300μΩ-cm.) Printed, Organic & Flexible Electronics Forecasts,
  4. Capable of forming wires on plastic base materials with low heat resistance (such as polycarbonate)
  5. Resistant to electrochemical migration, a risk in silver wiring, at a practical level