Inkjet printing is a promising technique for printed micro-electronics due to low cost, customizability and compatibility with large-area, flexible substrates. However, printed line shapes can suffer from bulges at the start of lines and at corner points in 2D line patterns. The printed pattern can be multiple times wider than the designed linewidth. This can severely impact manufacturing accuracy and achievable circuit density. Bulging can be difficult to prevent without changing the ink-substrate-system, the drying conditions or the circuit design, all of which can be undesirable. Here, we demonstrate a novel printing methodology that solves this issue by changing the order in which drops are placed on the substrate. The pattern is split up into segments of three drops where the central drop is printed last. This symmetric printing prevents the unwanted ink flow that causes bulging. Larger bulge-free patterns are created by successively connecting segments. Line formation in both traditional linear printing and our novel segmented and symmetric printing was analyzed to understand and optimize results. The printing of X-, T-, and L-shapes is considerably improved compared with the traditional linear printing methodology.
Improved Inkjet-Printed Pattern Fidelity: Suppressing Bulges by Segmented and Symmetric Drop Placement
Ragheb Abunahla,S. Rahman,Paria Naderi,Gerd Grau
Published 2020 in Journal of Micro and Nano-Manufacturing
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- Publication year
2020
- Venue
Journal of Micro and Nano-Manufacturing
- Publication date
2020-09-01
- Fields of study
Materials Science, Engineering
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Semantic Scholar
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