32.4:Invited Paper: Broad Implications Arising from Photonic Curing Process For Printed Electronics and Displays

Printed electronics is an expanding research field that can reach the goal of reducing the environmental impact on electronics exploiting renewable and biodegradable materials, like paper. In our work, we designed and tested a new method for fabricating hybrid smart devices on cellulose substrates by aerosol jet printing (AJP) and photonic curing, also known as flash lamp annealing (FLA), capable to cure low temperature materials without any damage. Three different cellulose-based materials (chromatographic paper, photopaper, cardboard) were tested. Multilayer capability and SMDs (surface mount devices) interconnections are possible permitting high flexibility in the fabrication process. Electrical and geometrical tests were performed to analyze the behavior of printed samples. Resulted resistivities are 26.3 × 10−8 Ω⋅m on chromatographic paper, 22.3 × 10−8 Ω⋅m on photopaper and 13.1 × 10−8 Ω⋅m on cardboard. Profilometer and optical microscope evaluations were performed to state deposition quality and penetration of the ink in cellulose materials (thicknesses equal to 24.9, 28.5, and 51 μm respectively for chromatographic paper, photopaper, and cardboard). Furthermore, bending (only chromatographic paper did not reach the break-up) and damp environment tests (no significant variations in resistance) where performed. A final prototype of a complete functioning multilayer smart devices on cellulose 3D-substrate is shown, characterized by multilayers, capacitive sensors, SMDs interconnections.

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Evaluation of PulseForge Tool for Processing Metallic Conductive Inks on Low Temperature Substrates Part II: Screen Inks

International Symposium on Microelectronics ◽

10.4071/isom-2010-tha5-paper2 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 2010 (1) ◽

pp. 000920-000923

Author(s):

S. Farnsworth ◽

I. Rawson ◽

K. A. Schroder ◽

D. Pope

Keyword(s):

Low Temperature ◽

Printed Electronics ◽

Initial Evaluation ◽

Functional Material ◽

Conductive Inks ◽

Device Development ◽

Photonic Curing ◽

Screen Print ◽

Process Material ◽

Screen Ink

At this event in 2009, the authors discussed the need for advanced tooling and materials for printed electronics device development and manufacturing. We went on to describe and evaluate a novel toolset called PulseForge® which is based on photonic curing and capable of drying and sintering metallic-based inks on low-temperature substrates in milliseconds. Example inks manufactured by NovaCentrix used in the initial evaluation were silver and copper-based inkjet inks, with nanoparticles as the functional material. These inks were only 100's of nm thick when printed and dried. As part of on-going work, the authors are now presenting the same toolset applied to thicker screen print inks of silver and copper. A PulseForge 3100 in 12-inch width configuration is used to process improved silver screen ink on PET, and a new copper-based screen ink on copy paper. The tools produce equal or improved results over oven processing. Additionally, we demonstrate the PulseForge tools can process material at speeds consistent with volume manufacturing.

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Ultra-fast photonic curing of electrically conductive adhesives fabricated from vinyl ester resin and silver micro-flakes for printed electronics

RSC Advances ◽

10.1039/c4ra00292j ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 4 (31) ◽

pp. 15914-15922 ◽

Cited By ~ 42

Author(s):

Hui-Wang Cui ◽

Jin-Ting Jiu ◽

Shijo Nagao ◽

Tohru Sugahara ◽

Katsuaki Suganuma ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Vinyl Ester ◽

Printed Electronics ◽

Intense Pulsed Light ◽

Vinyl Ester Resin ◽

Pulsed Light ◽

Conductive Adhesives ◽

Electrically Conductive ◽

Electrically Conductive Adhesives ◽

Photonic Curing

Electrically conductive vinyl ester resin–silver micro-flake adhesives, combined with intense pulsed light, present ultra-fast photonic curing within a second.

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One-step photonic curing of screen-printed conductive Ni flake electrodes for use in flexible electronics

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-82961-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Bilge Nazli Altay ◽

Vikram S. Turkani ◽

Alexandra Pekarovicova ◽

Paul D. Fleming ◽

Massood Z. Atashbar ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Flexible Electronics ◽

Printed Electronics ◽

Pulse Length ◽

Single Step ◽

Electrical Performance ◽

Great Promise ◽

Photonic Curing ◽

One Step ◽

Ink Transfer ◽

Screen Printed

AbstractPhotonic curing has shown great promise in maintaining the integrity of flexible thin polymer substrates without structural degradation due to shrinkage, charring or decomposition during the sintering of printed functional ink films in milliseconds at high temperatures. In this paper, single-step photonic curing of screen-printed nickel (Ni) electrodes is reported for sensor, interconnector and printed electronics applications. Solid bleached sulphate paperboard (SBS) and polyethylene terephthalate polymer (PET) substrates are employed to investigate the electrical performance, ink transfer and ink spreading that directly affect the fabrication of homogeneous ink films. Ni flake ink is selected, particularly since its effects on sintering and rheology have not yet been examined. The viscosity of Ni flake ink yields shear-thinning behavior that is distinct from that of screen printing. The porous SBS substrate is allowed approximately 20% less ink usage. With one-step photonic curing, the electrodes on SBS and PET exhibited electrical performances of a minimum of 4 Ω/sq and 16 Ω/sq, respectively, at a pulse length of 1.6 ms, which is comparable to conventional thermal heating at 130 °C for 5 min. The results emphasize the suitability of Ni flake ink to fabricate electronic devices on flexible substrates by photonic curing.

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Future Sensors for Smart Objects by Printing Technologies in Industry 4.0 Scenario

Energies ◽

10.3390/en13225916 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 (22) ◽

pp. 5916

Author(s):

Michela Borghetti ◽

Edoardo Cantù ◽

Emilio Sardini ◽

Mauro Serpelloni

Keyword(s):

Industry 4.0 ◽

Printed Electronics ◽

Spare Parts ◽

Smart Devices ◽

Smart Objects ◽

Photonic Curing ◽

Jet Printing ◽

Manufacturing Technologies ◽

Aerosol Jet Printing ◽

Physical Quantities

Industry 4.0 has radically been transforming the production processes and systems with the adoption of enabling technologies, such as Internet of things (IoT), big data, additive manufacturing (AM), and cloud computing. In this context, sensors are essential to extract information about production, spare parts, equipment health, and environmental conditions necessary for improving many aspects of industrial processes (flexibility, efficiency, costs, etc.). Sensors should be placed everywhere (on machines, smart devices, objects, and tools) inside the factory to monitor in real-time physical quantities such as temperature, vibrations, deformations that could affect the production. Printed electronics (PE) offers techniques to produce unconventional sensor and systems or to make conventional objects “smart”. This work aims to analyze innovative PE technologies—inkjet printing and aerosol jet printing in combination with photonic curing—as manufacturing technologies for electronics and sensors to be integrated into objects, showing a series of sensors fabricated by PE as applications that will be adopted for smart objects and Industry 4.0.

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Photonic Curing Explanation and Application to Printing Copper Traces on Low Temperature Substrates

International Symposium on Microelectronics ◽

10.4071/isom-2011-tha4-paper6 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 2011 (1) ◽

pp. 001040-001046 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

K. A. Schroder ◽

Ian M. Rawson ◽

Dave S. Pope ◽

S. Farnsworth

Keyword(s):

Thin Film ◽

Low Temperature ◽

Web Applications ◽

Printed Electronics ◽

Low Cost ◽

Processing Technique ◽

Ambient Atmosphere ◽

Roll To Roll ◽

Photonic Curing ◽

The Cost

Photonic curing is a transient thin-film thermal processing technique using flashlamps. It was developed by NovaCentrix® and incorporated in the PulseForge® toolset to address the need of the printed electronics industry to process high temperature materials on low temperature substrates such as paper and plastic on a moving web. Applications include photovoltaics, displays, solid state lighting, thin film batteries, RFID tags, and printed circuits. The ability to substitute inexpensive and flexible substrates for expensive, rigid substrates while achieving similar performance can dramatically reduce the cost of the final product and enable new products. In this paper, we discuss the technology and mechanisms of the process and illustrate a case study of forming copper traces on plastic and paper in a roll-to-roll environment. Here, a low cost copper oxide ink is printed on plastic or paper and chemically reacted using pulsed light from the PulseForge tool to form highly conductive copper traces. This process is performed in an ambient atmosphere.

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