Developing inkjet printing processes for printed electronics manufacturing is very tricky. It is certainly much tricker than non-functional inkjet printing since often single pass print is used with little chance to correct missed drops and application-level tolerance of defects is significantly lower.
First, one needs to develop an ink that at least on paper satisfies the requirements in terms of particle size, viscosity, etc. This itself is an art as most materials and inks are not designed for inkjet.
Next, one must select the right print head. This is easier said than done. This is because there are many print heads and each, all other things being equal, exhibit their own print characteristics including terms of print velocity, satellite formation, longevity of the print head, consistency, etc. It is hard to know a priori which will work and which not. Thus testing is required.
Next one must optimize the waveform. This is relatively straightforward and somewhat often a standarized and mundate task in ink systems used outside printed electronics. However, it is a time-consuming fine-tuning process in printed electronics. It is also essential.
Once these are all optimized one can go to pilot production, but still on small scale machine.
Finally, if an application is successful or larger volumes are planned, one must transition to a larger-scale production-level machine. Here, the parameters are not exactly one-to-one transferable from lab to production level machines, and further control, measurement, and optimization of the ink-printhead-substrate interplay is required.
ImageXpert has developed an all-in-one platform that can accompany developers through all stages from ink formulation to print head selection to waveform optimization to quality control and pilot production and finally to optimization for and in mass production.
Kyle Pucci, Director of Applications Engineering expertly explains these challenges and how the ImageXpert solutions can help accelerte the process, getting better results with much less effort, time and money!
Enjoy the watch
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