Issue 46, 2018

Capillary force induced air film for self-aligned short channel: pushing the limits of inkjet printing

Abstract

Ultrashort channels of electrodes are essential for the construction of advanced functional devices with high-level integration and high operation speed. However, the channel length of fabricated electrodes is limited to 20 μm in inkjet printing. Although several methods have been previously proposed to obtain short channels, they require extra processing steps. In this paper, channel self-aligning phenomenon was observed in directly patterned electrodes on unmodified substrate by inkjet printing, when using an interspace defects growing method. Further exploring the underlying mechanism reveals that the capillary force induced air film prevents droplets coalescence, even on a substrate with no temperature differences. The wetting region, which is generated by the receding droplets impingement, will draw droplets closer together at a larger drop space, thus demanding smaller air pressure for coalescence inhibition and contributing to the self-aligning phenomenon of micro-sized droplets released by inkjet printing. Accordingly, an ultrashort channel of 2.38 μm is obtained with relatively smooth boundaries, when electrodes are printed on a slightly heated substrate, which reduces the air pressure between two neighboring droplets. This work will provide a significant reference for future high resolution applications of inkjet printing technology.

Graphical abstract: Capillary force induced air film for self-aligned short channel: pushing the limits of inkjet printing

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
28 Sep 2018
Accepted
28 Oct 2018
First published
30 Oct 2018

Soft Matter, 2018,14, 9402-9410

Capillary force induced air film for self-aligned short channel: pushing the limits of inkjet printing

R. Tao, Z. Fang, J. Zhang, H. Ning, J. Chen, C. Yang, Y. Zhou, R. Yao, Y. Song and J. Peng, Soft Matter, 2018, 14, 9402 DOI: 10.1039/C8SM01984C

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