Jet-based printing of electrical and electronic applications

Printed electronics is one of the most popular and extensively used technologies for flexible and free-form electronics. Printed electronics is a processing technique where functional inks can be deposited on any compliant substrate with the help of printing technologies, such as inkjet printing, screen printing, or other conventional printing methodologies. Among them, Aerosol Jet Printing (AJP) is a recent, direct, namely mask-less, jet based printing process, which offers a number of advantages. It can deposit inks on almost any substrates: flexible foils, paper, textile, planar and rigid 3D surfaces due to the adjustable standoff distance within few mm. The ability to use a wide range of functional inks with viscosities ranging from 0.7 to 10 mPa.s is one of the highlights of AJP. Moreover, feature size, as small as 10 µm in the plane and < 1 µm in the thickness, can be achieved. Furthermore, AJP is capable of print multi-layer interconnects and repair circuits analogous to soldering. Printed products can be customized for one piece (Rapid prototyping) or can be upgraded to the customized mass production (Rapid manufacturing).  The applications of printed electronics are not restricted to passive electrical elements only, but also extended to antennas, smart textiles, health patches, RFID, smart packaging, OLEDs, OTFTs, etc. More specifically, the aim of this project is to develop customized smart solutions and industrially electrical applications using jet based printing techniques. The focus will be on process investigation (the interaction of different inks with different substrates, adhesion, wetness etc.) and case study development, such as a thermal and force sensors, interconnects and antennas to integrate them into medical and consumer products.