Roll-to-roll printed electronics on paper (original) (raw)
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Suitability of Paper-Based Substrates for Printed Electronics
Materials
Flexible plastic substrates are widely used in printed electronics; however, they cause major climate impacts and pose sustainability challenges. In recent years, paper-based electronics has been studied to increase the recyclability and sustainability of printed electronics. The aim of this paper is to analyze the printability and performance of metal conductor layers on different paper-based substrates using both flexography and screen printing and to compare the achieved performance with that of plastic foils. In addition, the re-pulpability potential of the used paper-based substrates is evaluated. As compared to the common polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate, the layer conductivity on paper-based substrates was found to be improved with both the printing methods without having a large influence on the detail rendering. This means that a certain surface roughness and porosity is needed for the improved ink transfer and optimum ink behavior on the surface of the substrate....
Advanced Electronic Materials, 2017
it reduces the production costs and finds application in many electronic devices like thin-film transistors (TFT), passive electronic components, energy-storage devices, and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). [1,5,7,8] TFTs are one of the most basic and yet important elements of the modern day electronic. [9-12] The inkjet printing is a known deposition technology for manufacturing TFTs in the field of flexible and printed electronics. [13-17] The technology offers various advantages, such as additive printing process ability, accuracy in micrometer range, and flexibility in terms of material processing. [13,18-21] Due to its advantages, the technology has opened wider scope thus replacing the traditional metal subtractive etching/ lithographic as well as sputtering/e-beam evaporation technologies in large-area and flexible substrates. [22,23] These technologies are expensive and complicated, need specific equipment and impose strict process requirements. At the same time, depending on the field of application the paperbased electronics can be manufactured using photolithography, screen printing, gravure printing, flexography, or direct-writing/ printing technologies. [21,24-29] In these mentioned printing techniques inks generally have higher viscosity and this property restricts them from the unwanted ink diffusion into the paper fibers. [24,30] Over the past decade, inkjet technology has been well recognized for the manufacturing of products that include "printing beyond colors." This micrometer-scale precise technology provides a straightforward approach toward judicious deposition of electronically functional material inks on various substrates over relatively large areas, for printed/flexible electronics. The technology promotes upscalability and has become a renowned process tool for fabricating electronic devices in the field of printed/flexible electronics. Here, the fabrication of printed thin-film transistors (TFT) on cheap coated paper substrate using inkjet technology is reported. For developing the TFT layer stack conductive nanoparticle inks, a polymeric dielectric ink and a p-type organic semiconductor ink are employed. The coating on the paper provides several advantages for fabrication process of TFTs; for example, control over ink spreading. This control of ink spreading can directly influence the fabrication of interdigitated source/drain (S/D) electrodes for TFTs, when a top gate bottom contact architecture is considered. This results in better manufacturing yields and promising electrical performance, which are also the focus of this research. The all inkjet-printed TFTs on paper exhibit electrical performance with maximum S/D current ranging to 170 nA, charge carrier mobility of 0.087 cm 2 V −1 s −1 , and current on/off ratio of 330.
Printed Organic Electronic Devices Made using High Volume Printing Processes
MRS Proceedings, 2004
ABSTRACTPrinting is a promising technique to fabricate commercial organic electronic devices such as OLED, TFT, solar cells and sensors. In this investigation, we report the application of high volume flexographic printing, which makes low cost and batch production possible. Commercial RFID tags have been printed using metallic inks with organic compounds in the Printing Applications Lab (PAL) at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). Polyaniline ink was prepared and printed by flexography in the form of test targets and Interdigitated electrodes (IDE). The conductivity can be controlled by different levels of doping. Furthermore, multiple impression printing was used to print overlapping functional layers to obtain all printed organic electronic devices like chemical vapor and humidity sensors. Optical profilometry and SEM were used to analyze the surface and interface structure. Sensitivity was measured and compared with commercial devices.
Sensors and Materials , 2019
The use of papers as substrates in the process of manufacturing flexible electronic components is urgently required to obtain cost-effective products as well as to expand the potential applications of such components. This study aimed to examine the suitability of three different types of paper for sensor applications using an inkjet printing process. Three types of paper (denoted as Types 1, 2, and 3) designed for specific applications in printed electronics were selected and entirely characterized in terms of microscopic and macroscopic properties, such as internal fibers structure, cross-sectional layer structure, surface roughness, and hardness. Dot arrays were printed on these three types of paper to determine how the papers absorb silver ink and which one is the best substrate for manufacturing printed electronic components. After a comprehensive analysis, the paper that exhibited the best feature was further studied as a substrate for printing interdigitated electrodes to develop a humidity sensor. The Type 2 paper-based sensor demonstrated the variation in capacitance in the range from 9.4 to 10.6 pF while changing the relative humidity (RH) from 40 to 90%. Thus, Type 2 has the great potential for application in flexible sensors, suggesting the possibility of industrial scalability and mass production of inexpensive, biodegradable, and conformable electronic components.
Journal of Manufacturing and Materials Processing
Innovations in industrial automation, information and communication technology (ICT), renewable energy as well as monitoring and sensing fields have been paving the way for smart devices, which can acquire and convey information to the Internet. Since there is an ever-increasing demand for large yet affordable production volumes for such devices, printed electronics has been attracting attention of both industry and academia. In order to understand the potential and future prospects of the printed electronics, the present paper summarizes the basic principles and conventional approaches while providing the recent progresses in the fabrication and material technologies, applications and environmental impacts.
Polymeric materials for printed electronics and their interactions with paper substrates
Proc IS&T Digital …, 2007
The primary goal of printing electronics is to create structures and devices that are functionally similar to conventional electronics, but at greater speed, lower cost and less production complexity. The applications that will be affected by lower cost of electronics include RFID tags, solar cells, displays, chemical sensors, etc. In this work, effects of paper properties and their effect on sheet resistivity of gravure printed PEDOT:PSS layers were evaluated. Among paper properties, it was observed that absorptivity and ink penetration had negative effect on conductivity. The higher the ink penetration into the substrate surface the lower the conductivity. Moreover, surface energy of the substrates needs to be in balance with surface tension of the conductive inks.
Integrated printed hybrid electronics on paper
Proceedings of the 5th Electronics System-integration Technology Conference (ESTC), 2014
Printed electronics is seen as an ultralow cost alternative to current mass produced electronic modules for achieving a simple function or effect. In reality only very basic electronic functions can be realized using purely additive printing and coating techniques. Even for the most simple functional electronic circuit hybrid manufacturing methods need to be employed using elements from standard SMD components as well as traditional converting technologies. In order to achieve the low cost target each processing step must be evaluated in order to reach a balance between functionality and processing as well as material cost. Reel to reel production is commonly regarded as the most cost efficient method to manufacture very high volumes of devices, and high volume is a prerequisite for low cost. We demonstrate in the ROPAS project (EC FP7 grant agreement no 263078) the manufacturing process employed to produce an electronic anti-tampering indicator based on paper as a substrate for ultra-low cost in large volumes.
Inkjet-Printing: A New Fabrication Technology for Organic Transistors
Advanced materials and technologies, 2017
of logic circuits at any level of complexity, from the elementary logic inverter to more complicated logic gates, circuits, and chips. The great majority of present transistors are made of silicon, with surface densities up to 10 billion transistors per square centimeter. [3] Such high densities resulted in a mind blowing 1000 quintillion (10 33) functioning transistors in the world in 2015. [4] Even if silicon-based microchips and memory devices are currently able to process large quantities of information at very high speed and store massive amounts of data, the rising of new demands correlated to connected objects required the development of complementary approaches to silicon technology. Nowadays, electronics is facing a revolutionary phase in which new functionalities (sensors, displays, energy harvesting, etc.) are being integrated in everyday objects such as packaging, textiles, or even contact lenses. [5-7] These new applications require the realization of transistors capable of being integrated on a wide variety of substrates and mostly obtained through low-cost fabrication techniques. Their presence is an important added value to objects whose main function is not directly related to electronics. Silicon-based electronics is not always compatible with the constraints related to these applications in terms of constituting materials (silicon's stiffness); moreover, silicon-based devices often require expensive, high-vacuum, and high-temperature clean-room fabrication processes, which limit the possibility of using flexible, plastic substrates. Even if silicon-based electronics still remains unbeaten in terms of devices switching times and integration density, the need for lightweight, low-cost electronic systems has caused the emergence of printed electronics as an interesting technological option. [8-10] In printed electronics, electronic devices fabrication is performed by depositing liquid materials on the surface of specific substrates, by means of printing techniques and usually at ambient conditions. Postdeposition treatments are then typically needed to complete the fabrication of functional devices. For the last ten years printed electronics has appeared as one of the most interesting basic research fields, for both the academia and the industry, as clearly shown by its market previsions (global revenue estimated at 26.54billionin2016,projectedtoriseto26.54 billion in 2016, projected to rise to 26.54billionin2016,projectedtoriseto69.03 billion in 2025). [11] Alongside the innovations related to the field of printed electronics, the development of air-stable organic semiconductors, extremely versatile in terms of molecular structure and, as a consequence, in terms of electrical properties, has led
A multilayer coated fiber-based substrate suitable for printed functionality
Organic Electronics, 2009
A recyclable multilayer coated fiber-based substrate combining sufficient barrier and printability properties for printed functional devices was developed using reel-to-reel techniques. The substrate consists of a mineral pigment layer coated on top of a barrier latex layer. The pigment layer allows controlled absorption of ink solvents. By adjusting the thickness and porosity of the top coating the printability can be tuned for various functional inks. As a proof of concept a hygroscopic insulator field effect transistor (HIFET) was successfully printed on the multilayer-coated paper.
Investigation of Printing Properties on Paper Substrate
Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 2018
In this article, the optimum printing parameters were found when using silver nanoparticle ink to print on Kodak 4-Star photo paper substrate. Fujifilm Dimatix 2831 was used as the inkjet printer. The printing parameters of interest included the number of printing layers, the drop spacing, and curing temperature of the ink. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) analysis of the experimental data reveals sintering temperature to be significant (p < 0.05) to improve the conductivity. Pattern conductivity and surface roughness were used to identify the optimum printing parameters. The optimum printing parameters were found to be 15 μm drop spacing, two printing layer, and a sintering temperature of 90 • C. The best conductivity measured under the above mentioned condition was found to be 5.56 × 10 6 −1 m −1. Further, the bending test indicated that the printed patterns were unaffected (in terms of conductivity) when flexed around a cylindrical support indicating excellent stability under stress. This study paves the way for developing mechanically robust flexible devices with excellent electrical properties for Internet of Things (IoT) applications.