Fabrication of wireless sensors on flexible film using screen printing and via filling

Abstract

Wireless sensors are fabricated on flexible plastic films by means of screen printing and via-hole filling. The wireless sensors are battery free with data and power transmission functions. The sensors, fabricated on polyethylene terephtalate films, are designed based on RFID technology. Using an additive patterning process known as screen printing, metallization on polymer films is created. Both sides of a polymer film are printed with metallic patterns and connected with micro vias filled with conductive paste. One side of the film consists of printed electrical traces for discrete components like resistors and transistors that would be mounted onto it; the other side consists of a printed inductive coil used for wireless data and power transmission. The micro vias, which have a diameter of 120 lm, are formed by mechanical punching and filled with conductive silver paste. The size of one sensor unit is approximately 2 cm 9 1.5 cm; an array of 4 9 7 sensor units are printed over an area of 15 cm 9 15 cm on a PET film. Details of manufacturing processes, component assembly and functionality test are presented in this paper.

Formation of Copper Nickel Bimetallic Nanoalloy Film Using Precursor Inks

“…Functional printing has evolved from fabricating parts using a single material, to make multifunctional components using two or more materials. There is tremendous interest in functional printing, where different printing techniques [1] are used to make devices such as antennas [2] [3] [4] [5], electrical circuit components [6] [7] [8] [9] [10], and sensors [11] [12] [13] [14]. Metallic inks are often used to fabricate 2D and 3D structures to conduct heat and electricity.…”

Additive Manufacturing of Materials: Viable Techniques, Metals, Advances, Advantages, and Applications

“…[51][52][53] The screen printing technique is suitable for lowcost, high-volume production of printed electronics products on a wide variety of planar and curved substrates, including glass, plastic, ceramics, and fabric. High print resolution (<50 µm), design flexibility, and low infrastructure costs of the screen-printing technology have been well exploited for printed circuit boards (PCBs), photovoltaic (PV) technology, batteries, sensors, and display applications using a wide range of available inks.…”

Inkjet printing as manufacturing method of flexible printed circuit

“…Tego rodzaju defektów po procesie synteryzacji autorzy nie stwierdzili przy nanoszeniu polimerowych past (NPS-HB) klasyczną metodą sitodruku, mimo grubości dochodzących do 6 µm. Pozycje literaturowe [18,19] również nie zawierają informacji o spękaniach nawet dla grubszych warstw.…”