Optimized multi-layer printing of electronics and displays

• US 20060159899A1
• Filed: 01/13/2006
• Published: 07/20/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/14/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cabot Corporation
• Original Assignee: Cabot Corporation
• Inventors: Vanheusden, Karel, Edwards, Chuck, Howarth, James John
• Granted Patent: US 8,334,464 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 428/209
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/095 for polymer thick films, i.e. having a permanent organic polymeric binder
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/16 incorporating printed electric components, e.g. printed resistor, capacitor, inductor
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/0326 Inorganic, non-metallic conductor, e.g. indium-tin oxide [ITO]
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2203/0113 Female die used for patterning or transferring, e.g. temporary substrate having recessed pattern
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2203/013 Inkjet printing, e.g. for printing insulating material or resist
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2203/0143 Using a roller; Specific shape thereof; Providing locally adhesive portions thereon
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2203/0534 Offset printing, i.e. transfer of a pattern from a carrier onto the substrate by using an intermediate member
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2203/1476 Same or similar kind of process performed in phases, e.g. coarse patterning followed by fine patterning
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 3/12 using thick film techniques, e.g. printing techniques to apply the conductive material or similar techniques for applying conductive paste or ink patterns
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 3/1216 by screen printing or stencil printing
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 3/125 by ink-jet printing
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 3/1275 by other printing techniques, e.g. letterpress printing, intaglio printing, lithographic printing, offset printing
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 3/4664 Adding a circuit layer by thick film methods, e.g. printing techniques or by other techniques for making conductive patterns by using pastes, inks or powders H05K3/4647 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/24917 including metal layer
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/24926 including ceramic, glass, porcelain or quartz layer

Abstract

An apparatus and method for making a printed circuit board comprising a substrate and an electrical circuit is provided. The circuit is formed by deposition of a plurality of electronic inks onto the substrate and curing of each of the electronic inks. The deposition may be performed using an ink-jet printing process. The inkjet printing process may include the step of printing a plurality of layers, wherein a first layer includes at least one electronic ink deposited directly onto the substrate, and wherein each subsequent layer includes at least one electronic ink deposited on top of at least a portion of a previous layer when the previous layer has been cured. One or more of the layers may include at least two of the electronic inks.

Claims

1. A printed circuit board comprising a substrate and an electrical circuit, the circuit being formed by deposition of a plurality of electronic inks onto the substrate and curing of each of the plurality of electronic inks.

2. The printed circuit board of claim 1, wherein the deposition is performed using an ink-jet printing process.

3. The printed circuit board of claim 2, the ink-jet printing process including the step of printing a plurality of layers, wherein a first layer includes at least one electronic ink deposited directly onto the substrate, and wherein each subsequent layer includes at least one electronic ink deposited on top of at least a portion of a previous layer when the previous layer has been cured.

4. The printed circuit board of claim 3, wherein at least one of the plurality of layers includes at least two of the plurality of electronic inks.

5. The printed circuit board of claim 2, the electrical circuit including a plurality of components and a plurality of interconnections between components, and each of the plurality of electronic inks having at least one electrical characteristic when cured,

wherein each component and each interconnection is formed by using the at least one electrical characteristic of each cured electronic ink to determine a positional layout of droplets for deposition of at least one electronic ink.

6. The printed circuit board of claim 5, wherein each of the plurality of components and each of the plurality of interconnections is selected from the group consisting of a conductor;

a resistor;

a capacitor;

an inductor;

a transistor;

a dielectric insulator;

a sensor;

a diode;

a keyboard;

an input device;

a switch;

a relay; and

a pixel.

7. The printed circuit board of claim 1, wherein the deposition is performed using a process selected from the group consisting of photolithography, flexography, gravure, and screen printing.

8. The printed circuit board of claim 1, wherein a first portion of the deposition is performed using an ink-jet printing process and a second portion of the deposition is performed using a process selected from the group consisting of photolithography, flexography, gravure, and screen printing.

9. The printed circuit board of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of electronic inks is selected from the group consisting of a conductive ink;

a resistive ink having a resistivity greater than 10,000 ohms per square of printed ink when cured;

a resistive ink having a resistivity less than 10,000 ohms per square of printed ink and greater than 500 ohms per square of printed ink when cured;

a resistive ink having a resistivity less than 500 ohms per square of printed ink when cured;

a high-K dielectric ink having a dielectric constant greater than 50.0 when cured;

a low-k dielectric ink having a dielectric constant less than 50.0 when cured;

an insulative ink;

a ferrite ink;

a clear conductive ink; and

a semiconductive ink.

10. A process for designing a printable electrical circuit, comprising the steps of:

a) selecting a plurality of electronic inks to be used to form the circuit; and

b) determining a print layout, the print layout including at least one layer of at least one of the plurality of electronic inks printed onto a substrate,

wherein the step of determining a print layout comprises determining a position for each droplet of electronic ink within each layer such that, when cured, the electronic inks are positioned to form the circuit.

11. A process for designing a printable electrical circuit, the circuit comprising a plurality of components and interconnections between components, and the process comprising the steps of:

a) selecting a plurality of electronic inks to be used to form the components and interconnections; and

b) determining a print layout for the circuit, the print layout including at least one layer of at least one of the plurality of electronic inks printed onto a substrate,

wherein the step of determining a print layout comprises determining a position for each droplet of electronic ink within each layer such that, when cured, the electronic inks are positioned to form the circuit.

12. The process of claim 11, the print layout including at least one layer of at least two of the plurality of electronic inks printed onto the substrate.

13. The process of claim 11, wherein the step of determining a print layout further comprises the step of determining a deposition method to be used for each layer, wherein the deposition method is selected from the group consisting of ink-jet printing, photolithography, flexography, gravure, and screen printing.

14. The process of claim 13, wherein the step of determining a deposition method to be used for each layer further comprises determining a first deposition method to be used for at least one layer and a second deposition method to be used for another layer, wherein each of the first and second deposition methods is selected from the group consisting of ink-jet printing, photolithography, flexography, gravure, and screen printing.

15. The process of claim 11, wherein each of the plurality of electronic inks is selected from the group consisting of a conductive ink;

a resistive ink having a resistivity greater than 10,000 ohms per square of printed ink when cured;

a resistive ink having a resistivity less than 10,000 ohms per square of printed ink and greater than 500 ohms per square of printed ink when cured;

a resistive ink having a resistivity less than 500 ohms per square of printed ink when cured;

a high-K dielectric ink having a dielectric constant greater than 50.0 when cured;

a low-k dielectric ink having a dielectric constant less than 50.0 when cured;

an insulative ink;

a ferrite ink;

a clear conductive ink; and

a semiconductive ink.

16. The process of claim 11, wherein each of the plurality of components is selected from the group consisting of a conductor;

a resistor;

a capacitor;

an inductor;

a transistor;

a dielectric insulator;

a sensor;

a diode;

a keyboard;

an input device;

a switch;

a relay; and

a pixel.

17. A process for printing an electrical circuit onto a substrate, the method comprising the steps of:

a) depositing a plurality of electronic inks onto the substrate; and

b) curing each of the plurality of electronic inks.

18. The process of claim 17, wherein the step of depositing includes the steps of:

i) printing a first printable layer by depositing droplets of at least one of the plurality of electronic inks in a first positional pattern onto the substrate;

ii) when the previous printable layer has been cured, printing a next printable layer on top of the previously printed layer by depositing droplets of at least one electronic ink in a next positional pattern onto the substrate; and

iii) repeating the step of printing a next printable layer on top of the previously printed layer when the previous printable layer has been cured until a last printable layer has been printed.

19. The process of claim 18, wherein each of the electronic inks is deposited using a ink-jet printing process.

20. The process of claim 19, wherein at least one of the printable layers is printed using at least two of the plurality of electronic inks.

21. The process of claim 18, the electrical circuit including a plurality of components and a plurality of interconnections between components, and each electronic ink having at least one electrical characteristic when cured,

wherein each component and each interconnection is formed by using the at least one electrical characteristic of each cured electronic ink to determine the respective positional pattern of each printable layer.

22. The process of claim 21, wherein each of the plurality of components and each of the plurality of interconnections is selected from the group consisting of a conductor;

a resistor;

a capacitor;

an inductor;

a transistor;

a dielectric insulator;

a sensor;

a diode;

a keyboard;

an input device;

a switch;

a relay; and

a pixel.

23. The process of claim 21, wherein each of the plurality of electronic inks is selected from the group consisting of a conductive ink;

a resistive ink having a resistivity greater than 10,000 ohms per square of printed ink when cured;

a resistive ink having a resistivity less than 10,000 ohms per square of printed ink and greater than 500 ohms per square of printed ink when cured;

a resistive ink having a resistivity less than 500 ohms per square of printed ink when cured;

a high-K dielectric ink having a dielectric constant greater than 50.0 when cured;

a low-k dielectric ink having a dielectric constant less than 50.0 when cured;

an insulative ink;

a ferrite ink;

a clear conductive ink; and

a semiconductive ink.

24. The process of claim 18, wherein each of the electronic inks is deposited using a process selected from the group consisting of photolithography, flexography, gravure, and screen printing.

25. The process of claim 18, wherein for at least one printable layer, each of the electronic inks is deposited using an ink-jet printing process, and for at least one other printable layer, each of the electronic inks is deposited using a process selected from the group consisting of photolithography, flexography, gravure, and screen printing.

26. A printed circuit board comprising a substrate and an electrical circuit, the circuit including a plurality of components and a plurality of interconnections between components, each of the components and interconnections being formed by printing at least one layer of at least one of a plurality of electronic inks onto the substrate in a predetermined pattern and curing the at least one electronic ink, wherein a first layer includes an amount of each of the plurality of electronic inks to be deposited directly upon the substrate according to the predetermined pattern, and wherein each subsequent layer includes at least a minimal amount of each electronic ink to be deposited on top of at least a portion of the previous layer when the previous layer has been cured.

27. A process for printing at least two electrical components using an ink-jet printing process onto a substrate, the at least two electrical components being selected from the group consisting of conductors;

resistors;

capacitors;

inductors;

transistors;

dielectric insulators;

sensors;

diodes;

keyboards;

input devices;

switches;

relays; and

pixels,

wherein at least a portion of each of the at least two electrical components is printed using a single electronic ink.

28. The process of claim 27, wherein the single electronic ink comprises a silver ink.