Stan Farnsworth

Stan Farnsworth

Chief Marketing Officer, NovaCentrix

Presentation Title:

Updated Applications for Photonic Curing Technology for Sintering, Soldering, and Polyimide Delamination

Time: TBD

Presentation Abstract:

Rob Hendriks (1) , Dr. Vahid Akhavan (1) , Dr. Kurt Schroder (1) , Stan Farnsworth (1,*)
(1) NovaCentrix, Austin, TX, USA

Photonic curing is now a generally accepted technology for sintering metal-based
conductive inks especially where drying time is to be reduced, or where the material system has one or more components which cannot withstand normal elevated processing temperatures.
Additionally, photonic curing is being used for general drying wherein the coating or substrate is an absorptive material which acts to capture the beam energy. Now, this same transient,non-equilibrium application of radiant energy is being developed for soldering, and delamination of cured polyimide on glass.
The authors will present their latest developments with regard to applying state-of-the-art photonic curing tools for soldering pico-LED components onto low-temperature flexible substrates. Solder materials used are normal off-the-shelf industry products such as AmTech SAC, NC-560-LF, type 6. Shear testing of these components has resulted in breakage of the pico-LED’s prior to failure of the soldered joint.
Additionally, the authors will present the development of non-laser delamination. The process involves non-equilibrium heating of the polyimide surface while the device stack temperature remains below 100°C. As OLED and AMOLED displays gain volume in the consumer electronics market, the photonic delamination can reduce the delamination cost by replacing expensive laser systems. Additionally, the PulseForge systems can illuminate large areas at once, leading to processing rates significantly higher than point or line laser systems.
Lastly, the device stack is protected and will not be illuminated through the photonic delamination process. This reduces defect formation due to impurities in the polyimide layer and leads to significant improvement in the yield of the delamination process. Laser delamination presents a bottleneck in OLED production while photonic delamination presents a novel technique to overcome the stated barriers.


Stan Farnsworth is Chief Marketing Officer at NovaCentrix and has been with the company since its inception in 1999. He is responsible for global sales as well as strategic and tactical marketing for all NovaCentrix products, including the company’s PulseForge photonic curing tools and Metalon conductive inks.  Previously, Stan held engineering and operations management roles at Applied Materials in both Austin and Santa Clara. He has an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from Rice University and a master’s degree in heat transfer and fluid mechanics from the University of Texas in Austin.  Since 2013 he has been serving as an elected Board of Directors member of the OE-A, the leading international association for printed and large-area flexible electronics.  On the Board of Directors, he has been the designated Vice Chair for North America since 2015.

Company Profile:

NovaCentrix offers industry leading photonic curing tools, conductive inks, material and expertise enabling development and production of next generation printed electronic devices – some already on the market. PulseForge® tools utilize photonic curing which is a cutting edge technology that dries, sinters, and anneals functional inks in milliseconds on low-temperature, flexible substrates such as paper and plastic. Our Metalon® conductive inks capitalize on advanced materials and formulation to provide conductivity options for additive manufacturing of printed electronics with stretchable, solderable, resistive, and magnetic qualities. NovaCentrix partners with you to take ideas from inception to full production.