Inkjet & Digital Printing
High-Tech Materials Deposition: The New Frontier for Piezoelectric Drop-on-Demand Inkjet Technology
Wednesday 14. May 2008 - Imagine manufacturing methods that operate at microscopic scales and are versatile enough to produce flexible printed electronics, photovoltaic structures, flat panel displays, backplanes, RFIDs, smart tags, sequences of genetic material, or chemical and biological sensors.
Welcome to materials deposition, the new frontier in high-technology manufacturing where the materials deposited can range from UV-curable light-emitting polymers and conductive fluids to organic “inks” and DNA, and where their thickness often must be controlled to within a few ten-millionths of a meter.
Its also where inkjet, specifically drop-on-demand inkjet, or Piezo DOD – a technology traditionally associated with wide-format printing – is quickly finding acceptance on the materials deposition scene as a viable and often valuable manufacturing method.
Inkjet: The Perfect Deposition Technology
Broadly defined, the practice of materials deposition involves any method used to deposit a thin film of material onto a substrate or onto previously deposited layers on a substrate.
Piezo DOD inkjet for graphics printing certainly fits this basic definition. Graphics printing involves depositing thin films of ink to form text and images of various colors on paper, vinyl or similar substrates, thereby producing a visual experience.
Piezo DOD inkjet printheads are also fast and accurate. As an example, precision-manufactured FUJIFILM Dimatix Spectra brand printheads can jet inks for industrial printing applications at frequencies exceeding 20,000 cycles/second (20 kHz) and at print speeds of one and a half (1.5) meters per second. Each nozzle can fire ink droplets on demand, simultaneously on each cycle and virtually without “crosstalk,” straight and true to their intended targets.
Plus compared to other deposition technologies, Piezo DOD inkjet has the added advantage of eliminating manufacturing steps and reducing consumable usage and chemical waste. As a digital technology, inkjet production startup costs are comparatively low, and expensive materials like liquid silver and DNA are optimized by jetting them only where theyre needed.
A Quantum Leap
However, to compete in the rarefied atmosphere of high-technology process manufacturing, Piezo DOD must be considerably more precise than the technology used for producing print.
For example, materials deposition demands droplet size tolerances exceeding those used for print production by orders of magnitude. Instead of jetting ink at the 30 to 80 picoliter droplet sizes common to print production, high-technology materials deposition routine.
High tech materials deposition also requires inkjet printheads to handle a comparatively wide variety of fluids for a virtually unlimited range of applications, onto a broader range and type of substrates and at temperatures that often must be controlled more closely. (See comparison chart.)
Traditional Piezo DOD inkjet, in short, had to take a quantum leap to be suitable for handling high-tech materials deposition.
The Shaped Piezo Silicon MEMS Breakthrough
At Drupa in May 2004, FUJIFILM Dimatix (then known as Spectra, Inc.) introduced its breakthrough Shaped Piezo Silicon MEMS fabrication technology. MicroElectroMechanical Systems, or MEMS, is an advanced manufacturing method that uses techniques similar to those used in fabricating integrated circuits to create ultra-miniature inkjet structures within silicon.
In developing the Shaped Piezo Silicon method, FUJIFILM Dimatix took MEMS technology one step further. By manufacturing an entire printhead assembly on a silicon wafer – basically a printhead on a chip – the Shaped Piezo Silicon method produced a new generation of printheads capable of supporting a wide range of fluids from traditional inks to various functional fluids such as nanoparticle-based metallic materials.
Unlike some deposition methods, which flood a surface with functional fluids, inkjet is both precise and additive, able to deposit the exact amount of material at the exact locations where it is needed, without waste. This precision makes it unnecessary to image and pattern, etch and recover waste material – dramatically enhancing inkjets attractiveness for use with aggressive, conductive and reactive fluids and coatings that often must be deposited at precision locations and in precisely controlled amounts.
FUJIFILM Dimatix advance in manufacturing engineering transformed Piezo DOD from a method primarily suited for industrial print production to one that also offers unique possibilities and advantages for materials deposition and nanotechnology manufacturing.
Building in a New Direction
Materials Deposition
Production Graphics
Markets
Virtually Unlimited:
Electronics, Displays, Life Sciences, Chemistry, 3-D Mechanics, Optics, Photovoltaics, etc.
Limited:
Industrial Marking & Coding; Wide Format Printing, Product Decoration
Substrate Types
Virtually Unlimited:
Plastic, Glass, Ceramics, Silicon; Flexible Substrates from Membranes, Gels, and Thin films to Paper
Very Broad:
Paper and Vinyl to Glass, Plastics, Metals, Ceramics, Foods, etc.
“Ink” (Functional Fluid) Types
Virtually Unlimited:
Adhesives, Masking Inks, Anti-scratch/Anti-glare Compounds; UV-curable Light-emitting Polymers, Conductive and Dielectric Inks; Organic “Inks”, Liquid Silver, Enzymes, DNA, etc.
Broad:
Aqueous, solvent, UV-Curable and Hot-melt Inks; Edible Colorants, etc.
Printhead Fluid Compatibility
Critical
Important
Droplet Size
1 pl to 10 pl
30 to 80 pl
Droplet Velocity
Critical
Important
Jetting Speed (Firing frequency)
Important
Critical
Jetting Accuracy (no crosstalk)
Critical
Important
Jetting Uniformity
Critical
Important
Long Head Life
Important
Critical
Thermal Stability
Critical
Important
To commercialize its breakthrough technology, in May 2005 FUJIFILM Dimatix formally opened its Silicon Valley headquarters, complete with its Advanced Development Center and silicon MEMS fabrication facility in Santa Clara, California. In June 2005, the company, founded in 1984 as Spectra, Inc., was renamed as Dimatix to reflect its expansion into digital materials deposition.
The companys patented Piezo DOD inkjet printheads already were known the world over for their ability to sustainably jet ink and many other fluids at high frequencies and with exceptional precision, without trading off drop placement accuracy; and for their high duty cycles and long life – traits that allow OEMs and systems integrators to design advanced systems for industrial print production that are fast, reliable and economical.
FUJIFILM Dimatix Materials Deposition Products
The Materials Deposition group continues to leverage FUJIFILM Dimatix industry-leading ink jet technology and silicon MEMS fabrication processes to develop and produce high-performance precision printhead products and systems for depositing picoliter-sized droplets of functional fluids such as nanoparticle liquid silver and organic inks on all types of surfaces.
The Dimatix Materials Printer (DMP) is a bench-top materials deposition system designed for micro-precision jetting a variety of functional fluids onto virtually any surface, including plastic, glass, ceramics, and silicon, as well as flexible substrates from membranes, gels, and thin films to paper products. A complete turnkey system, the DMP facilitates developing and testing manufacturing processes and product prototypes. It also can be used for low-volume manufacturing of products from flexible circuits, RFID tags and displays to DNA arrays, and wearable electronics. By employing single-use cartridges that researchers can fill with their own fluid materials, the DMP system minimizes waste of expensive fluid materials, thereby eliminating the cost and complexity associated with traditional product development and prototyping.
The Dimatix Materials Cartridge is a cartridge-based inkjet printhead used with the DMP and available in 1 pl and 10 pl drop volumes. Based on FUJIFILM Dimatix proprietary Shaped Piezo Silicon MEMS technology, the 16-jet Dimatix Materials Cartridge is designed for high-resolution, non-contact jetting of functional fluids in a broad range of applications. The industry-first 1 pl cartridge can deposit features as small as 20 ?m (20 millionths of a meter) to fabricate products such as organic thin-film transistors (TFTs) and printed circuits. In biotechnology, the Dimatix Materials Cartridge allows researchers to closely pack large numbers of elements in DNA arrays, to permit more accurate and efficient analyses. FUJIFILM Dimatix has shipped more than 25,000 Dimatix Materials Cartridges since its introduction.
The SX3 Printhead is a highly compact and lightweight hybrid jetting assembly designed specifically for micro-fluid deposition. The SX3 delivers a precise 10 pl drop size through 128 inline jets that can be individually tuned. A silicon nozzle plate with a non-wetting coating is compatible with the aggressive fluids used in electronics and other fabrication applications.
The SE3 Printhead similar to the SX3 is a compact and lightweight hybrid jetting assembly designed for precise drop placement of a slightly larger drop. The SE3 delivers a 35 pl calibrated drop size through 128 inline jets that can be individually tuned. The silicon nozzle plate has a non-wetting coating and is compatible with the aggressive fluids used in electronics and other fabrication applications.
For its achievement of the Dimatix Materials Printer, FUJIFILM Dimatix in 2006 was awarded a Nano 50 Award from Nanotech Briefs magazine, placing it in an elite group of technologies, products, and innovators that have or will significantly impact key nanotechnology markets, from automotive and electronics to biomedical and materials.
Also in 2006, FUJIFILM Dimatix was presented with the first-ever Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal Emerging Technology Award, which it won in the Biotechnology category for its development of the DMP. The Emerging Technology Awards recognize Silicon Valley companies creating and bringing to market cutting-edge technologies that have the potential to profoundly impact people and businesses.
The strength of FUJIFILM Dimatix core inkjet printhead technologies, plus its development of Shaped Piezo Silicon MEMS and the Dimatix Materials Printer and Cartridge, is helping move materials deposition out of the lab and into the main stream by using new methods to fabricate a new generation of products not possible only a few years ago.