Drop on Demand Non-contact Hydrophilic Electrostatic Deposition Head

There have been growing interests in direct patterning of metallic contents on the surface of the substrate without including complex steps of the micro fabrication lithography process. The direct fabrication process using ink-jet printing can be expected to be a powerful tool for both nanotechnology research and applications such as micro electronics. Inkjet printers operate by propelling various size droplets of conductive ink onto the substrate. The electrostatic inkjet system is one of the important candidates, in terms of cost and time effected manufacturing of printed electronics like RFID, electronic devices and flexible display, solar cell, sensors etc. Paper experimentally studies and analyze hydrophilic electrostatic head design having nozzle with micron orifice for the contactless deposition of metallic contents.. The lab fabricated electrostatically -micro machined actuated inkjet head, tested for low power and high resolution with nano-particle ink containing metallic particle as pigments. The issues like the drop on demand using metallic ink and ejection at low voltage with stability problems are also addressed. The meniscus formation on the nozzle orifice with the relation to hydrophilic properties is also analyzed experimentally and optimize model for metallization is proposed. The electrostatic forces enable the system to overcome the mechanical actuation which is often require high fabrication cost, actuation limitation and integration problems to produce printed electronics and electrical patterns at higher frequencies rate.