Inkjet Printing Process

There have been some trials involving fabrication of OPVs by the inkjet printing process. Usually, P3HT PCBM is prepared by the inkjet printing process. The performance of a device fabricated by the inkjet printing process was around 1.25% at a size of 18 cm.  

---

Creating acceptable prints requires two steps (1) getting ink to fire reliably from a print head onto paper, and then (2) getting ink to behave in a desirable manner on paper. In the first part of this chapter, the inkjet printing process is discussed how is ink ejection impacted by ink properties What are typical impediments to reliable drop ejection ... 

An inkjet printing of colloidal crystals was proposed by Frese et describing inkjet printing processes of monodispersed particles which are able to form two- or three-dimensional photonic crystals on the substrate surface by arranging in a closely packed lattice structure on the surface. The particle size was selected so that it will diffract light in the visible spectral region, i.e., particle size of 200-500 nanometers. In this work drop-on-demand inkjet printing techniques are utilized. 

Fig. 14. Drop formation and stability of the inkjet printing process as a function of the driving pulse.

FIGURE 5.4.5 Process flow for the fabrication of polymer TFTs by inkjet printing. Steps 1 to 4 use a subtractive process for patterning of materials. The subtractive process prints an etch mask on a previously deposited film. Step 5 illustrates the additive inkjet printing process. The additive process simultaneously deposits and patterns the semiconductor material PQT-... 

Consideration of the impact of washing and water within the life cycle of inkjet printed textiles might be complemented by steps in the supply chain that are upstream or downstream from the inkjet print process. Downstream are the uses for the printed cloth, usually as raw material for another industry, such as fashion, before it reaches the final consumer. Upstream, the process of inkjet printing on textiles, can be considered to begin with the preparation of the fabric for ink jet or digital printing. 

An exhaustive review of research studies and activities in the inkjet printing of conductive materials has been presented (5). The inkjet printing process and the various types of conductive inks have been detailed. The various factors that affect the quality of printed matter have been described. These include the printing parameters, materials and the pretreatment of the substrate to be printed. 

Also, methods for characterizing the inkjet printing process as well as the electrical properties of the printed conductive material have been summarized (5). 

Lee D-H, Chang Y-J, Stickle W, Chang C-H (2007a) Functional porous tin oxide thin films fabricated by inkjet printing process. Electrochem Solid State Lett 10(11) K51-K54... 

Fig. 4.7 Comparison between (A) screen printing and (B) inkjet printing process.

To fabricate OPVs by this printing system, the ink formulation needs to be modified to control the droplet volume and meniscus of the solution. In addition, the inkjet printing process should allow good film morphology without the coffee ring effect, as shown in Figure 13.5. 

---