Roll-to-roll Printing Process and Equipment for Printed Electronics Mechanical System (PEMS) (Printed Electronics & Photovoltaics USA 2010)

Key technology of roll-to-roll based contact printing machine for printed electronics

 

The process of manufacturing printed electronics using printing technology is attracting attention because its process cost is lower than that of the conventional semiconductor process. In roll-to-roll printing technology, printing process by gravure/gravure-offset and flexo as well as web transport technology, for printed electronics such as solar cell, OTFT, OLED, RFID antenna, fine line-patterned circuit, printed sensor, point-of-care system, is under development sponsored by government/companies. In general, in order to implement printed electronics, narrow width and gap printing, registration of multi-layer printing by several printing units, and printing accuracy of under 20 μm are all required. The roll-to-roll printing equipment used for printed electronics comprises an un-winder/re-winder, printing units, dryer unit, guide unit, dancer system, vision system, and various auxiliary devices. The equipment designed and fabricated for this study on printed electronics is substantially that of a cantilever type, but printing units based on several auxiliary blocks can be added and adjusted for the user's convenience. The auxiliary blocks consist of a printing unit, registration unit, vision unit, dancer, load cell, in-feeder, and dry unit. Printing results obtained through roll-to-roll printing system show fine line-width/gap of 20 μm and registration under 10 μm.

 

Dong-Soo Kim1, Kyung Hyun Choi2, Hyun Jin Sung3, Chung Hwan Kim(CNU)4

Dong-Soo Kim received the B.Sc. degree, the M.Sc. degree, and Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering from Young Nam Univ. Daegu, Korea, in 1988, 1991, and 2000, respectively. From 1991, he worked at Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM) and he is currently the vice-presidnet of KIMM. He has been in charge with the Roll to Roll Printing Process and Equipment Team as a team leader and his working area is the gravure printing, screen printing, micro-contact printing, flexo printing, inkjet, printed electro-mechanical system, and screen printing. He has published more than 30 technical papers and currently holds around 70 Korea patents, 10 U.S. patents.

Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM) was established in 1976 initially under the name of the Korea Test Institute of Machinery and Metals, in order to improve industrial technologies in the field of machinery and metal working as well as to domestically manufacture machinery, thereby replacing imports and upgrading machine quality to international levels. The KIMM has thus far led the development of the field of machinery in Korea. With the backing of its 30 years of experience and research capabilities, the KIMM is determined to pool all its capabilities to develop into an agency that will lead the industry, academia and research institutes.