In this paper, silver pastes were printed on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film using screen printing and evaluated the drying characteristics by using dry oven and NIR drying system. The printed Ag films were dried at 140 ℃ and the drying time was changed from 10 to 90 seconds. To evaluate the electrical properties of printed Ag film, sheet resistance was compared. The sheet resistance of the dried thin silver film by using NIR drying system more rapidly decreased. To clarify this phenomena, the morphology and component of the dried surfaces were measured by using the scanning electron microscope (SEM) and the energy dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX), respectively. In the EDX measurement results, the oxidation of the surface was observed in the dried thin film by using the dry oven. The NIR drying system is more applicable than conventional hot air drying to apply continuous printing system.
