Packing density of inkjet printed paths

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to study the packing density of printed paths on different substrate materials. It presents problems which appear when the necessity of printing one or more narrow paths occurs. Design/methodology/approach A piezoelectric printhead containing nozzles with a diameter of 35 µm was used for printing nanoparticle silver ink on different polymer substrates which were treated by plasma or not treated at all. The shape, defects, resistance and printing parameters for the printed paths were analysed. Findings The obtained results allow the identification of the sources of the technological problems in obtaining a high packing density of the paths in a small area of substrate and the repeatable prints. Research limitations/implications The study could have limited universality because of the chosen research method; printhead, ink, substrate materials and process parameters were arbitrarily selected. The authors encourage the study of other kinds of conductive inks, treatment methods and printing process parameters. Practical implications The study includes practically useful information about widths, shapes, defects and the resistance of the paths printed using different technological parameters. Originality/value The study presents the results of original empirical research on problems of the packing density of inkjet printed paths on a small area of substrate and identifies problems that must be resolved to obtain effective interconnections in the inkjet technology.

Investigation of inkjet printed path resistance in the context of manufacture and flexible application

“…Moreover, printing the subsequent layer does not lead to an increase in path width because the one is determined by the first printed layer. The diversification in the width of the next layer [Figure 5 (a) and (b) in the literature (Tomaszewski et al , 2018)] is also not observed in multiline one-nozzle print [Figure 6(a)]. Visible inhomogeneity of the layer appears when the anti-spread (Tomaszewski and Potencki, 2017), print method is used [Figure 6(f)].…”

“…In those studies, the antennas were built from the paths with a width of about 1 mm. The other authors’ investigations furthermore determined that in some cases it is inefficient to manufacture too narrow paths by using one-line prints (Tomaszewski et al , 2018). Therefore, in this research, two values of path width (0.5 and 1.0 mm) were used.…”

Dielectric Properties of Substrates for InkJet Technology in GHz Area

“…Increasing of frequencies goes hand by hand with increasing requirements on stabile dielectric properties of the substrates in GHz area. Different types of substrates are used in GHz applications the most common are PCB (Printed Circuit Boards) and LTCC (Low Temperature Co-fire Ceramics) substrates but in recent years polymeric flexible substrates and insulating papers were used for GHz applications too [1][2][3][4][5].…”

Viscosity Measurement of Silver Based Nano-inks

“…InkJet Printing is a digital printing technology in which the drops of nano-ink are jetted from the nozzle directly onto specific places on flexible or rigid substrate. The development of materials in nano-size dimensions opens the new doors in the field of technologies in electronics which makes the inkjet printing technology possible to use for manufacturing processes [1][2][3].…”