Date of last update: January 27th 2009

The Inkjet Printing Group

Group Leader: Dr. Patrick J. Smith

Head Technician: Frau Ute Löffelmann

Ph.D. Student: Herr Dario MagerHiWi Student: Herr Henning Meier

Date of last update: January 27th 2009

Inkjet Printing – What you want, Where you want, When you want

The research of the laboratory of inkjet printing is interested in using piezo-electric drop-on-demand inkjet printing as a dispensing tool for the deposition of a wide range of materials. These materials are organic, inorganic or biological. The main advantage of piezo-electric inkjet printing is that it is able to deliver precise amounts of material to a pre-determined position on a substrate. The laboratory is interested in using inkjet printing as a low-cost, rapid manufacturing technique; either to use inkjet printing to produce masks, to produce “maskless” features, tapes or three dimensional structures.

Narrow features, rapid and low-cost fabrication

The laboratory is also interested in using inkjet printing in conjunction with other patterning techniques such as micro-contact printing, which uses stamps and patterned blocks to obtain exceptionally small features. Here the surface energy of a substrate is modified by the application of a non-wetting layer. Nano-embossing, MIMIC and soft lithography have also been used to obtain features that are 20 microns or thinner.

Surface Science – The substrate is not passive

All substrates have associated surface energies, which have a direct effect on features that are printed onto them. Of current interest is the ‘coffee stain’ effect, which is the phenomenon whereby suspended material preferentially deposits at the boundary of a drying droplet. Obviously, when one is using a liquid-handling approach, such as inkjet printing, for feature formation one must understand how the as-printed liquid behaves upon a substrate in order to obtain the desired shape.

Date of last update: January 27th 2009

Publications

2009Chapter: “The Behaviour of an Ink Droplet on the Substrate,” PJ Smith, ‘The Chemistry Behind Inkjet Inks and Digital Printing’ Ed: Prof’ Shlomo Magdassi, World Scientific Publishing, Singapore, Spring 2009.

2008“Inkjet printing as a deposition and patterning tool for polymers and inorganic particles” E Tekin, PJ Smith and US SchubertSoft Matter, 2008, 4, 703

“‘Invisible’ silver tracks produced by combining hot-embossing and inkjet printing” C Hendriks, PJ Smith, J Perelaer, AMJ v.d. Berg, and US SchubertAdvanced Functional Materials, 2008, 18, 1031

“The preferential deposition of silica micro-particles at the boundary of inkjet printed droplets”J Perelaer, PJ Smith, C Hendriks, AMJ v.d.Berg and US SchubertSoft Matter, 2008, 4, 1072

“Theoretical investigation of the influence of nozzle diameter variation on the fabrication of TFT LCD colour filters,” D-Y Shin and PJ SmithJournal of Applied Physics, 2008, 103, 114905

“Inkjet printing of structures for MRI Coils,” D Mager, U Löffelmann, PJ Smith, A Peter, L del Tin and JG Korvink, Proceedings of Digital Fabrication 2008

“Inkjet printing silver-containing inks,” PJ Smith, D Mager, U Löffelmann, JG Korvink, Proceedings of Digital Fabrication 2008

Date of last update: January 27th 2009

Publications2007“Inkjet printing of luminescent CdTe nanocrystal/polymer compositesE Tekin, PJ Smith, S Hoeppener, AMJ van den Berg, AS Susha, J Feldman, AL Rogach and US Schubert, Advanced Functional Materials, 2007, 17, 23

“Inkjet printing of polyurethane colloidal suspensions”AMJ v.d.Berg, PJ Smith, J Perelaer and US Schubert, Soft Matter 2007, 3, 238

“Geometric Control of Inkjet Printed Features Using a Gelating Polymer”AMJ v.d.Berg, AWM de Laat, PJ Smith, J Perelaer and US Schubert, Journal of Materials Chemistry 2007, 17, 677

“Phase Change Rapid Prototyping with Aqueous Inks”D Mager, PJ Smith and JG Korvink, Proceedings of Digital Fabrication 2007, 908

2006“Direct Ink-jet Printing and Low Temperature Conversionof Conductive Silver Patterns”PJ Smith, D-Y Shin, N Reis, J Stringer and B Derby; Journal of Materials Science. 2006, 41, 4153

2005“A low curing temperature silver ink for use in ink-jet printing and subsequent production of conductive tracks” AL Dearden, PJ Smith, D-Y Shin, N Reis, B Derby and P O’Brien; Macromol. Rapid Commun., 2005, 26, 315

Date of last update: January 27th 2009

Publications in Preparation“Droplet Tailoring Using Evaporative Inkjet Printing”J Perelaer, PJ Smith, MMP Wijnen, E v.d.Bosch, R Eckardt, PHJM Ketelaars and US Schubert Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics, Accepted

“The Spreading of Inkjet Printed Droplets with a Varied Polymer’s Molecular Weight on a Dry Solid Substrate”J Perelaer, PJ Smith, E v.d.Bosch, SSC van Grootel, PHJM Ketelaars and US Schubert Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics, Accepted

“Room Temperature Preparation of Conductive Silver Features using Spin-coating and Inkjet Printing”JJP Valeton, K Hermans, CWM Bastiaansen, DJ Broer, J Perelaer, US Schubert, GP Crawford and PJ SmithAdvanced Materials, to be submitted (February 2009)

“Inkjet Printed, Conductiver, 25 mm Wide Silver Tracks on Unstructured Polyimide,” H. Meier, U Löffelmann, D Mager, PJ Smith, JG KorvinkAdvanced Materials, Submitted (December 2008)

“An MRI Receiver Coil Produced Directly by Inkjet Printing”D Mager, U Löffelmann, PJ Smith, JG KorvinkAdvanced Functional Materials, to be submitted (February 2009)

“Inkjet Printing of Proteins,” JT Delaney, PJ Smith and US Schubert, In preparation