• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
• /
• v.27 no.9
• /
• pp.7-10
• /
• 2010

Recently, roll-to-roll printers are being developed actively by various research teams such as research institutes, universities and companies for the application of printed electronics. The printing methods that are widely used in the roll-to-roll printing equipments are gravure, gravure and flexo, which depend on the inks used and electronic devices produced. In general, a single printing unit of roll-to-roll printing equipment adopts only one printing method and this method is not changeable, which limits the application fields of the developed printing equipments. In this paper, the roll-to-roll printer, in which the printing unit has the novel design concept, is described.

• Laser Solutions
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.12-15
• /
• 2012

On behalf of the existing semiconductor process, the electronic devices to low-cost mass production to mass print the way, the research for development of roll-to-roll printing process is actively underway. This study was performed in about the research on the manufacturing technology of the printing roll used in the printing process of electronic devices. The indirect laser imprinting technology was used to create printable roll, and after coating copper on the surface of steel and thereon after coating polymer, after removing the polymer on the surface of roll, the printable roll was made. The laser system and roll feeder system were constructed and control program was developed. We has found the optimal conditions to perform laser patterning experiments using a system developed and We can make the minimum line width of 18 ${\mu}m$.

• Laser Solutions
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.17-23
• /
• 2013

The research for the development of roll-to-roll printing process is actively underway on behalf of the existing semiconductor process. The roll-to-roll printing system can make the electronic devices to low-cost mass production. This study is performed for developing the manufacturing technology of the printing roll used in the printing process of electronic devices. The indirect laser engraving technology is used to create printable roll and the printable roll is made out of the chrome coated roll after coating copper and polymer on the surface of steel roll, ablating the polymer on the surface of roll and etching the roll. The 3 dimensional laser scanner and roll rotating systems are constructed and the system control program is developed. We have used the fiber laser of 100 W grade, the 3 dimensional laser scanner and the 3 axes moving stage system with a rotating axis. We have found the optimal conditions by performing the laser patterning experiments and can make the minimum line width of $24{\mu}m$ by using the developed 3 dimensional laser scanner system.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2010.06a
• /
• pp.84.1-84.1
• /
• 2010

Currently, new and renewable energy come into the spotlight, such as solar energy, wind power, fuel cell, hybrid car etc., due to the energy resource is being depleted. Especially, in order to solve like this problem, the study of solar cell manufacturing systems are being extensively researched such as vacuum process. But the major fault of the vacuum process are its expensive production price. On the order hand, Roll-to-roll printing system, the new technology of solar cell manufacturing, has low production price compare with the vacuum process. Also roll-to-roll printing system can decrease the 95% of waste water and 99.9% of harmful gasses than the vacuum process. So we addressed the roll to roll printing system for the flexible solar cell by using printing technology. This roll-to-roll printing system is comprised of various modules, such as web handling module, fine pattern printing module, dry/curing module, uniform coating module and laminating module etc.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
• /
• v.26 no.6
• /
• pp.81-89
• /
• 2009

Dancer systems are typical equipment for attenuation of tension disturbances. Lately, demands for high speed roll-to-roll machines are rising but it is prior to attenuate the tension variation on the web entering into the printing zone to achieve the speed increment. Maintaining a constant tension before the first printing cylinder is the key of high speed, high quality printing. Dancer has been researched in two ways, whether it is controlled or not. The first one is active dancer and the other one is passive dancer. In the active dancer, a position of idle roll of dancer is measured and the roll is moved by external hydraulic cylinder to control tension disturbances. While the passive one composed with spring, damper and idle roll has no external actuator to position the idle roll. The tension disturbance causes movement of dancer roll and the displacement of the roll regulates the tension variation. On the other hand a composite type of dancer is applied for roll-to-roll printing machines. It has same apparatus as passive dancer. The displacement of roll is measured and front(or rear) driven roller is controlled to position the roll. In this paper, it is presented an analysis of pendulum dancer including position feedback PI control and logic for PI gain tuning in roll-to-roll machines. Pole-zero map and root locus with varying system parameters gives a design method for control of the dancer.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.61-65
• /
• 2010

For the adaption of roll-to-roll printing method to the printed electronics, it is mandatory to increase the resolution of register errors. Therefore it is desired to derive the mathematical modeling of register error or to develop controller design. The cross direction register error was derived considering both lateral motion of moving web and transverse position of printing roll. The mathematical modeling was validated and the relationship between the lateral motion and register error was analyzed by numerical simulations in various operating conditions using multi-layer direct gravure printing machine. The results could be used for a design of the CD register in the multi-layer printing and the lateral motion caused by translation.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.103-109
• /
• 2010

An ink transfer is modeled and experimentally verified using roll-to-roll electric direct gravure printing process. The ink transfer model based on the physical mechanism for the maximum ink transfer rate is proposed, and experimented by the electric printing machine in FDRC for the relations of the maximum ink transfer rates to the printing pressure, the operating speed, the operating tension, the surface roughness of substrates, and the contact angle between substrate and silver ink. The free ink split coefficient and immobilized ink under the maximum ink transfer rate are calculated by the physical parameter in a printing process and contact angle between substrates and ink. Numerical simulations and experimental studies were carried out to verify performances of the proposed ink transfer model. Results showed that the proposed ink transfer model was effective for the prediction of the amount of transferred ink to the substrate in a direct gravure printing systems.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
• /
• 2009.05a
• /
• pp.15.2-15.2
• /
• 2009

Manufacturing of printed electronics using printing technology has begun to get into the hot issue in many ways due to the low cost effectiveness to existing semi-conductor process. This technology with both low cost and high productivity, can be applied in the production of organic thin film transistor (OTFT), solar cell, radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, printed battery, E-paper, touch screen panel, black matrix for liquid crystal display (LCD), flexible display, and so forth. The emerging technology to manufacture the products in mass production is roll-to-roll printing technology which is a manufacturing method by printings of multi-layered patterns composed of semi-conductive, dielectric and conductive layers. In contrary to the conventional printing machines in which printing precision is about $50~100{\mu}m$, the printing machines for printed electronics should have a precision under $30{\mu}m$. In general, in order to implement printed electronics, narrow width and gap printing, register of multi-layer printing by several printing units, and printing accuracy of under $30{\mu}m$ are all required. We developed the roll-to-roll printing equipment used for printed electronics, which is composed of un-winder, re-winder, tension measurement system, feeding units, dancer systems, guide unit, printing unit, vision system, dryer units, and various auxiliary devices. The equipment is designed based on cantilever type in which all rollers except printing ones have cantilever types, which could give more accurate machine precision as well as convenience for changing rollers and observing the process.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
• /
• v.15 no.9
• /
• pp.894-898
• /
• 2009

In a post printing section of roll to roll printing systems, scratch problem is the major defects. The functional qualities such as conductivity, mobility could deteriorate because of the scratch defect. In general, the scratch of the printed pattern on the flexible substrate was induced from a contact between rolls and printed pattern in the post printing section. In this paper, for non-contacting transfer of a moving web, a mathematical tension model has been developed considering strain due to air floatation and the proposed mode has been validated by numerical simulation. Additionally, the correlation between floatation height and speed compensation to control the tension and register are investigated. On the basis of the proposed model, a guide line of speed control in R2R printing system is presented to guarantee the non-contact between rolls and R2R printed pattern on the flexible substrate.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.36 no.2
• /
• pp.173-178
• /
• 2012

Currently, active research is being performed on printing of electronic devices such as RFID devices, flexible displays, solar cells, and e-paper. This technique has several advantages over existing technologies such as lithography and etching. In particular, RFID devices, flexible displays, solar cells, and e-paper require flexibility and a mass production system. Thus, attention is being focused on the roll-to-roll process. High quality should be guaranteed in the roll-to-roll printed electronics systems, and good thickness and roughness qualities must be ensured. Experimental design was applied to this problem to analyze the main effects and interaction effects of various factors. Matching technology between the nip roll characteristics and the quality of the print pattern in roll-to-roll printed electronics systems was proposed to improve the printing quality.