Designing Electrical Circuits on Textiles Through the Sputtering Method

Sputter deposition is a physical vapour deposition (PVD) method of sputtering a thin film. Magnetron sputtering is a dominant thin film growth technique because a large amount of thin films can be prepared at relatively high purity and low cost. This involves ejecting material from a “target” which is a source onto a “substrate”. Recently, sputtering has been applied to textile surfaces, resulting in improved properties such as durability, waterproofing and antimicrobial properties. In general, magnetron sputtering is considered the most suitable technique for sputtering on textile surfaces, as it allows precise control of film thickness and morphology. A woven textile material of 50% Pes/50% Co was prepared for coating with Cu particles by applying Torr electron beam deposition technology. The preparation for coating with metal particles of the textile structure had as its main objective the removal of impurities and possible auxiliary substances from its surface, which could affect the uniformity of the layer of metal coating particles. The technological preparation process included: the washing phase, followed by rinsing, acidulation, rinsing, drying and ironing. The textile material used as a substrate, with the size of 350 × 350 mm was fixed on the support of the deposition equipment. For deposition by the EB-PVD process, Cu of 99.99% purity was used. The resulting sample was characterised quantitatively to determine the amount of the deposited layer and qualitatively by ICP-OES to assess the chemical composition of the metal layer. The analysis of the morphology of the textile support after treatment with Cu was studied on the surface and in cross-section by scanning electron microscopy. The CROPICO 4000 Multimeter was used to determine the surface resistance of the conductive textile structure.