Lubrication-Related Residue
as a Fundamental Process
Scaling Limit to Gravure Printed Electronics
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Abstract
In
gravure printing, excess ink is removed from a patterned plate
or roll by wiping with a doctor blade, leaving a thin lubrication
film in the nonpatterned area. Reduction of this lubrication film
is critical for gravure printing of electronics, since the resulting
residue can lower device performance or even catastrophically impact
circuit yield. We report on experiments and quantitative analysis
of lubrication films in a highly scaled gravure printing process.
We investigate the effects of ink viscosity, wiping speed, loading
force, blade stiffness and blade angle on the lubrication film, and
further, use the resulting data to investigate the relevant lubrication
regimes associated with wiping during gravure printing. Based on this
analysis, we are able to posit the lubrication regime associated with
wiping during gravure printing, provide insight into the ultimate
limits of residue reduction, and, furthermore, are able to provide
process guidelines and design rules to achieve these limits