Flexographic printing of nanoparticulate tin-doped indium oxide inks on PET foils and glass substrates

Abstract

This contribution deals with flexographic printing of nanoparticulate tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) inks for the manufacture of fine lines on PET foils and glass substrates. The development and optimization of ITO inks, based on solutions of water and ethanol, for the flexographic printing process is presented. The influence of the solvent composition, of the particle content, and of the molar mass of the binder polyvinylpyrrolidone on the printing result is shown. ITO lines with a minimum line width of around 120 mu m were printed using a printing plate with a feature size of 50 mu m; the ITO lines exhibited a thickness of around 1 mu m. Laser post-treatment was used to consolidate the top layer of the nanoparticulate ITO structures resulting in improved electrical properties; low sheet resistance values of around 300 Omega/a- were achieved

Scaling Behavior of Pattern Formation in the Flexographic Ink Splitting Process

“…Enormous quantities of food packages and packaging foils receive their full-color branding and design by this technique every day, frequently using cost efficient and sustainable water-based inks. Not only the low-cost applications, but also highly specific energy and communication technologies define benchmarks for the development of flexography: printing conductive current-collecting grids on brittle silicon solar cells, or on transparent front electrodes for displays (see, e.g., [1]).…”

Organic electrochemical transistors manufactured by laser ablation and screen printing

“…In contrast, the electrolytic interfaces used in an organic electrochemical transistor (OECT) [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] enable operation at very low voltages, typically less than 1 V, independent of the electrolyte thickness. This is of critical importance since it allows for device manufacturing via various printing techniques [15][16][17][18][19][20][21], despite the deposition of thicker layers at lower resolution and less smoothness. Due to the simple device architecture and low-voltage operation [22,23], the OECT is a versatile device platform that can be used in a wide variety of applications and research fields [3,[24][25][26][27].…”

Leveling and Drying Dynamics of Printed Liquid Films of Organic Semiconductor Solutions in OLED/OPV Applications

“…The third area of printed applications relevant for electronics refers to conductive structures as, e.g., current‐conducting bars, nontransparent electrode structures or contact pads for, say, electroluminescent panels, printed batteries, solar cell back, and, sometimes, transparent front electrodes. [ 14 ] Typically, these structures are printed using concentrated preparations of nano‐ or micrometer‐sized metal and metal oxide particles, with a rheology close to gelation. This type of printing is readily established in electronics manufacturing, and the very domain of flexography and screen printing.…”

“…This is partly due to the complexity of the physics and chemistry behind the materials used there, the role of hydrophilic and hydrophobic interfaces. We should like to emphasize that there are considerable examples for a successful implementation of offset lithography [15,16] and flexography [7,14] in printed electronics. In this paper, we shall skip these topics, as many findings of principal importance can also be demon strated with conceptually minimalist printing techniques such as gravure and, in essence, inkjet.…”