Zunino III J.L., Schmidt D.P., Petrock A.M., Fuchs B.E.
U.S. Army, US
Keywords: army, inkjet, material printing, military, nano-inks, sensors
U.S. Army Armaments Research Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) is developing the capability to custom design, manufacture and integrate novel technologies into functional devices for the creation and advancement of active systems, including printed electronics, sensors, detonation systems. Significant advancements in material deposition technology provide tangible opportunities to print function-specific devices using nano-inks and novel materials on a variety of flexible substrates via drop on demand and direct write systems. Material printing processes greatly reduce the time, environmental impact, and costs associated with device prototyping and fabrication. The harsh operational, transportation, and storage environments these devices must survive for military utilization far surpasses those of the commercial sector. Military devices are often expected to endure extend storage, which may be greater than 20 years, in extreme environments. Corrosion, materiel migration, device anomalies, and other potential failure mechanisms, are a direct result of these conditions. The impacts of packaging, storage, transportation, and operating environments on the long-term performance of flexible electronics and printed devices in DOD systems are not well understood at this time. This study characterized the effects of substrate preparation, ink type, annealing steps and encapsulation techniques to determine optimal printing processes. In addition, the effects of design feature dimension and shape on device properties such as adhesion and resistivity were incorporated.
Journal: TechConnect Briefs
Volume: 2, Nanotechnology 2010: Electronics, Devices, Fabrication, MEMS, Fluidics and Computational
Published: June 21, 2010
Pages: 542 - 545
Industry sectors: Advanced Materials & Manufacturing | Sensors, MEMS, Electronics
Topic: Inkjet Design, Materials & Fabrication
ISBN: 978-1-4398-3402-2