MicroFab Ink-Jet Seminar

In the last decade, ink jet has come to be viewed as a precision microfluidics tool in addition to its use in printing. The inherently "data-driven" nature of ink-jet makes it attractive as a flexible manufacturing tool in applications ranging from medical diagnostics to optical communications. In contrast to photolithography and screen printing, ink-jet is an additive process that can minimize the use of expensive materials such as DNA, light-emitting polymers and precious metal inks, among others.

This course is designed for those interested in developing applications of ink-jet technology other than ink on paper. It will help you understand: the basic physics of jetting a wide range of materials; "ink" or fluid and printhead requirements; systems requirements for utilizing ink jet technology in manufacturing; and the range of possible applications. In addition, one or more customer-specified applications will be discussed in more detail. Piezoelectric, demand mode technology will be emphasized in this course.

Seminar Outline
DAY ONE: DAY TWO:

Overview of Ink-Jet Technologies

  • Introduction
  • Continuous Mode Ink-Jet Technology
  • Drop on Demand Ink-Jet Technology

Piezoelectric Drop on Demand Technology

  • Piezoelectrics
  • Actuators: types, integration into arrays
  • Piezoelectric motion, constants, electrical impedance
  • Fluid acoustics: compressibility, wavespeed, geometry, resonance
  • Drive waveform and a drop formation event
  • Drop parameters
  • Drop formation: overview, fluid properties effects
  • Modeling

Feature Formation on Substrates

  • Fluid / substrate interaction - porous and nonporous substrates
  • Impact, heat transfer, and phase change effects
  • Fluid properties effects
  • Influence of drop volume & velocity, and printing algorithm

Printing Systems

  • Overview & Block Diagram
  • Fluid system: pressure control, filtration, pressure drop, dead & useful volume
  • Printhead functions: fluid system, temperature control, atmosphere control, interconnects (mechanical, electrical, pneumatic)
  • Environmental control: clean air, solvent removal, inert atmosphere
  • Printer configurations: moving vs. stationery printhead; cylindrical geometries
  • Printing method: vector vs. raster; on-the-fly or point-to-point; data management
  • Printhead configurations: single jet, modular array, integrated array
  • Hitting the target: jet, substrate, and motion system alignment
  • Errors: trajectory, velocity, volume; effect of flight time
  • Jetting materials, reliability, and maintenance

Additional Topics

Applications Overview

  • Introduction
  • Electronics, display, optics, and 3-D assembly manufacturing applications
  • Biomedical applications: bioactive materials printing; tissue engineering; drug delivery; chemical synthesis & analysis; stent manufacturing; laser surgery
  • Sensors
  • Vapor generation applications
  • Other

Customer Specific Applications

MicroFab Technologies, Inc.

MicroFab Technologies has been a pioneer in developing industrial applications of ink-jet printing technology in areas as diverse as medical diagnostics, medical devices, electronics manufacturing, optics and displays among others. MicroFab Technologies personnel have authored sixty-four patents covering these developments over the past twenty years. MicroFab Technologies has supplied ink jet equipment to over two hundred organizations in Europe, Asia and North America.

Speaker Biographies

David B. Wallace 
Vice-President, Technology Development

Donald J. Hayes
President / CEO

Dr. Wallace is an internationally recognized expert in ink-jet physics and applications. He has over thirty years of industrial experience in complex fluid flow phenomena, including twenty-five years in ink-jet printing. He has published over eighty articles and has been awarded twenty-eight patents. Dr. Wallace is an Adjunct Professor in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He has been Principal Investigator for research funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Institutes of Standards and Technology, National Science Foundation, Defense Advanced Projects Agency, and other organizations. Dr. Wallace received his BSE and MSME from Southern Methodist University and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Arlington.

Donald J. Hayes is currently the owner and President of MicroFab Technologies, Inc. He holds a B.S. and M.S. in Physics from Louisiana State University and a Ph.D. in Materials Science from Rice. He has over 30 years experience managing research and development of process driven manufacturing for ink-jet printers, semiconductor devices, and electronic assemblies while at MicroFab, Polaroid, Mead Office Systems, Texas Instruments, and Boeing. Dr. Hayes has been awarded 54 patents. He is a member of the Engineering Counsel for the Eric Johnson School of Engineering at the Univ. of Texas at Dallas, and a member of the Materials Technology Review Board, Texas State Technical Institute.

Contact MicroFab for more information.

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