Printing Technologies

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This entry is adapted from the peer-reviewed paper 10.3390/nano12234251

The printing of complex structures requires designing tools to design the patterns with the exact dimensional data of the device. In general, the design of the printing pattern is developed by using commercial tools such as computer-aided design, and computer-aided manufacturing tools to build the 3D structure of any complex structure which are essential for feeding the printing machine. The printing of conductive layers can be obtained by using various printing techniques such as (a) inkjet printing, (b) aerosol printing, (c) filamentary printing, (d) electrohydrodynamic printing, and (e) UV-light curing-based printing.

printed electronics sustainable manufacturing future of manufacturing

1. Inkjet Printing

The inject printing operation is based on the ejection of microdroplets from the printing head and the nozzle undergoes pressure changes by the formation of the microbubbles and collapse as shown. The printing ink should be non-viscous for reducing the shear force during ejection from the nozzle and the viscosity of the ink should be less than 100 mPa-s for optimal printing ^[1]. Conversely, the inject printer based on a piezoelectric actuator controls the ink flow by contraction and expansion of the piezoelectric actuator. The inkjet printing technique is widely used to print a variety of materials such as metal nanoparticles, conducting graphene, and metal oxide nanoparticles. For a good inkjet printing system, the conducting ink of higher solubility is highly preferred to minimize the printing head clogging and improve the overall printing pattern. In a study, the 2D material based on h-BN and graphene layers is grown using an inkjet printing system.

2. Aerosol Jet Printing

The aerosol jet printing works based on the atomization of ink by ultrasonication method. The ultrasonic energy on the ink generates aerosol with highly desirable characteristics for jetting the aerosol. The carrier gas drives the aerosol from the ink chamber to the deposition head. Aerosol is printed onto the sample surface by driving the aerosol with sheath gas. The focusing ratio is the ratio of the sheath gas flow rate to the carrier gas flow rate as shown in Equation (1). The focusing ratio determines the quality of the metal line printed as reported by Ankit Mahajan et al. ^[2]. In this study, a high-resolution silver metal line was printed on a flexible polyimide substrate with a line resolution of 40 µm using aerosol jet printing. On increasing the focusing ratio and stage speed, the width of the metal line is decreased. In addition, by increasing the focusing ratio and decreasing the stage speed the thickness of the printed line increases. Furthermore, the printing efficiency of aerosol jet printing can be improved by controlling the focusing ratio of the aerosol jet printer tuned for modulating the line width of the printed line ^[2]. The aerosol jet printing technology is a promising alternative technology for the fabrication of metal interconnects via semiconductor ICs ^[3].

Focusing ratio = \frac{S h e a t h g a s f l o w r a t e}{c a r r i e r g a s f l o w r a t e}

In another study reported by Kihyon Hong et al. ^[4], they used aerosol jet printing technology to print the P-type and N-type transistors based on ZnO as the channel material . This shows the promising nature of aerosol jet printing technology in semiconductor manufacturing industries. The aerosol jet printing is applicable for micro-scaled devices but not suitable for cutting-edge technology nodes due to the technology scaling limitations.

3. Extrusion-Based Printing

The functionality of extrusion or filamentary-based printing is similar to the FDM system which is based on the high-temperature melting of the fuse on controlled motions across the (x, y, z) plane. It is a layer-by-layer extrusion-based printing technology that is used for the accurate fabrication of any 3-dimensional layered structures ^[5]. The extrusion-based printed electronics are highly suitable for printing a complex 3D microstructure with superior electrical properties ^[6]^[7]^[8]. 3D-printed Cu-based filament has been extensively used to build printed electrical interconnects, metallization, and circuits ^[9]. In addition, the authors also studied the multiple-layered metal interconnects and their electrical performance across three embedded interconnect metal layers. The electrical conductivity of the interconnects is further tested by PIC controller-based printed circuit board to further evidence the capability of digital data transmission across the printed metal lines. A study reported by Leland Weiss and Tyler Sonsalla ^[10], focused on the fabrication of perovskite solar cells using an FDM process and the fabricated perovskite solar cells have a cell size of 25 mm with 200 µm as the MAPbI₃-PCL thickness. Perovskite materials tend to obtain improved conductivity and transparency at elevated temperatures due to increased electron-hole pair generation. Fabrication of perovskite solar cells further realizes the possibility of utilizing commercial applications because of the simple and efficient process technology offered by FDM. Thus, the FDM technology used in the fabrication of solar cells will open new pathways for the rapid fabrication of highly efficient and simple process technology for solar cell manufacturing.

4. Electrohydrodynamic Printing

Electrohydrodynamic printing is based on the redox reaction of metallic ink and the sample surface under the influence of an electric field ^[11]^[12]^[13]. The generated metal ions are deposited on the substrate as reduced metal ions and the ions transfer is controlled by the DC voltage of 80–150 V to drive the redox printing. Alain Reiser et al. demonstrated the two-channel nozzle composed of Cu and Ag ion species and positive voltage is applied to any one of the wire electrodes then the Cu⁺ or Ag⁺ ions deposited on the surface.s the formation of nanorods, metallic lines, elevated nanorods, and sinusoidal wave-like patterns.

Jaehyun Bae et al. ^[14] investigated the effect of the surface tension of printable ink on the jetting flow of redox printing. The authors used water, EG, DMSO, DMF, acetone, ethanol, and IPA of varying surface tensions from 72.8 (dyne/cm) to 20.9 (dyne/cm). The jetting flow for water is semi-circular meniscus due to the higher surface tension for the water of 72.8 dyne/cm. Meniscus dimension changes from semi-circular to conical on decreasing the surface tension as observed for DMSO with 42.9 dyne/cm. The jetting flow with the conical-shaped meniscus when the surface tension is less than 42.9 dyne/cm which is observed for surface tension as low as 20.9 dyne/cm. Henceforth, the meniscus exhibits directional jet flow for DMSO, DMF, acetone, ethanol, and IPA. Similarly, the authors controlled the thickness of the droplet by increasing the applied voltage to 4 kV.

5. Light-Based Printing

UV curing has been a popular technique used in additive manufacturing technique for building complex 3D structures. UV curing techniques have received increased interest recently due to their fast curing, high resolution, energy efficiency, less space, and solventless process. UV curing ink works based on the photopolymerization or photocuring process ^[15]^[16]^[17]. Photopolymerization is based on the transition of liquid-phase ink to solid-phase under UV or visible light irradiation. In general, oligomers-based inks are used for photopolymerization such as polyurethane, polyether, polyester, and epoxy resin ^[18]. Yu Zhang et al. reported one droplet UV-assisted printing by using bottom-up UV-illuminated printing.

References

Dybowska-Sarapuk, L.; Kielbasinski, K.; Arazna, A.; Futera, K.; Skalski, A.; Janczak, D.; Sloma, M.; Jakubowska, M. Efficient Inkjet Printing of Graphene-Based Elements: Influence of Dispersing Agent on Ink Viscosity. Nanomaterials 2018, 8, 602.
Mahajan, A.; Frisbie, C.D.; Francis, L.F. Optimization of Aerosol Jet Printing for High-Resolution, High-Aspect Ratio Silver Lines. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2013, 5, 4856–4864.
Werum, K.; Mueller, E.; Keck, J.; Jaeger, J.; Horter, T.; Glaeser, K.; Buschkamp, S.; Barth, M.; Eberhardt, W.; Zimmermann, A. Aerosol Jet Printing and Interconnection Technologies on Additive Manufactured Substrates. J. Manuf. Mater. Process. 2022, 6, 119.
Hong, K.; Kim, Y.H.; Kim, S.H.; Xie, W.; Xu, W.D.; Kim, C.H.; Frisbie, C.D. Aerosol Jet Printed, Sub-2 V Complementary Circuits Constructed from P - and N -Type Electrolyte Gated Transistors. Adv. Mater. 2014, 26, 7032–7037.
Lu, B.-H.; Lan, H.-B.; Liu, H.-Z. Additive Manufacturing Frontier: 3D Printing Electronics. Opto-Electronic Adv. 2018, 1, 17000401–17000410.
Espalin, D.; Muse, D.W.; MacDonald, E.; Wicker, R.B. 3D Printing Multifunctionality: Structures with Electronics. Int. J. Adv. Manuf. Technol. 2014, 72, 963–978.
Lee, S.K.; Oh, Y.C.; Kim, J.H. Fused Deposition Modeling 3D Printing-Based Flexible Bending Sensor. Korean Soc. Manuf. Process Eng. 2020, 19, 63–71.
Rivadeneyra, A.; Loghin, F.C.; Falco, A. Technological Integration in Printed Electronics. In Flexible Electronics; InTech: Rijeka, Croatia, 2018.
Nassar, H.; Dahiya, R. Fused Deposition Modeling-Based 3D-Printed Electrical Interconnects and Circuits. Adv. Intell. Syst. 2021, 3, 2100102.
Weiss, L.; Sonsalla, T. Investigations of Fused Deposition Modeling for Perovskite Active Solar Cells. Polymers 2022, 14, 317.
Park, J.-U.; Hardy, M.; Kang, S.J.; Barton, K.; Adair, K.; Mukhopadhyay, D.k.; Lee, C.Y.; Strano, M.S.; Alleyne, A.G.; Georgiadis, J.G.; et al. High-Resolution Electrohydrodynamic Jet Printing. Nat. Mater. 2007, 6, 782–789.
Hayati, I.; Bailey, A.I.; Tadros, T.F. Mechanism of Stable Jet Formation in Electrohydrodynamic Atomization. Nature 1986, 319, 41–43.
Rogers, J.A.; Paik, U. Nanoscale Printing Simplified. Nat. Nanotechnol. 2010, 5, 385–386.
Bae, J.; Lee, J.; Hyun Kim, S. Effects of Polymer Properties on Jetting Performance of Electrohydrodynamic Printing. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017, 134, 45044.
Zakeri, S.; Vippola, M.; Levänen, E. A Comprehensive Review of the Photopolymerization of Ceramic Resins Used in Stereolithography. Addit. Manuf. 2020, 35, 101177.
Bagheri, A.; Jin, J. Photopolymerization in 3D Printing. ACS Appl. Polym. Mater. 2019, 1, 593–611.
Garra, P.; Dietlin, C.; Morlet-Savary, F.; Dumur, F.; Gigmes, D.; Fouassier, J.-P.; Lalevée, J. Photopolymerization Processes of Thick Films and in Shadow Areas: A Review for the Access to Composites. Polym. Chem. 2017, 8, 7088–7101.
Mendes-Felipe, C.; Oliveira, J.; Etxebarria, I.; Vilas-Vilela, J.L.; Lanceros-Mendez, S. State-of-the-Art and Future Challenges of UV Curable Polymer-Based Smart Materials for Printing Technologies. Adv. Mater. Technol. 2019, 4, 1800618.

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Subjects: Engineering, Manufacturing

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Sridhar Chandrasekaran

Arunkumar Jayakumar

Rajkumar Velu

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Update Date: 13 Dec 2022

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