Roll-to-Roll Apparatus for Residue-Free Direct Stamping of Functional Nano-Inks
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Roll-to-Roll Apparatus for Residue-Free Direct Stamping of Functional Nano-Inks Jiseok Kim1, Ting Hsieh1 and Woo Soo Kim1 1
Mechatronic Systems Engineering, School of Engineering Science, Simon Fraser University,
Surrey, B.C. Canada V3T 0A3 ABSTRACT A tabletop prototype of a roll-to-roll (R2R) direct stamping apparatus has been developed. The prototype is about 100 cm long, 30 cm wide and 40 cm high and is operational up to the web speed of 1 m/min. While upper rolls carry a web with a patterned stamp on it clockwise, a sprayer on top of the R2R apparatus dispenses the nano-ink to fill in the stamp. Two other rolls with adhesive films completely remove the residual layer on the stamp. Final products remain on the substrate after de-stamping in which the web rolls up and the substrate moves to the further right. This roll-to-roll direct stamping apparatus demonstrates high throughput and material efficiency for fabrication of flexible micro- and nano-electronic devices. INTRODUCTION Recently, mechanically ductile substrates such as polymers have been drawing much attention as demand for flexible and stretchable electronic devices have increased in many areas.[1] These flexible substrates usually do not tolerate harsh environment involved in conventional patterning methods. Thus, variants of direct patterning methods have been developed to overcome the limitations. Some important techniques include nanotransfer printing (nTP) [2], direct imprinting [3], liquid-bridge transfer stamping (LB-nTM) [4]. These techniques have been reported to be simple and cost-effective methods. These direct patterning technologies of functional materials demonstrate successful formation of structures, but they still have limitations for high throughput manufacturing like high vacuum, high temperature, high pressure and continuous pretreatment of stamps. Recently, we have reported direct stamping of nano-inks to overcome those restrictions [5].
In this study, it is
adapted for a high throughput roll-to-roll direct stamping process for cost-effective and process-effective manufacturing of functional nano/micro structures foe flexible electronics. 1
Continuous and high throughput fabrication of flexible nano/micro electronic devices on polymeric substrate is very important for keeping the production cost down. It has been reported that roll-to-roll (R2R) process is applied for the nano-imprint lithography [6]. Nanoscale gratings of epoxy-silicone were fabricated on PET by the R2R process. However, further processes are required to produce electronic devices. Thus, if aforementioned direct stamping of nano-inks is adapted for the R2R process, then a whole electronic device can be fabricated faster with lower cost. In this study, a tabletop prototype of a R2R direct stamping apparatus is developed. We have demonstrated facile fabrication of flexible strain sensors that have micro-scale thick inter-digitated capacitors with no residual layer by the R2R direct stamping. All steps of the direct stamping are adapted for a R2R process combine
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