Printed electronics

Traditional printing methods have been applied in the electronics industry in order to create devices on a wide range of substrates. The ability to rapidly deposit conductive materials onto flexible substrates has fuelled a revolution in flexible electronics. Printed electronics can cover large areas with very low fabrication costs, in stark contrast to more conventional electronics.

Smaller is better

In the world of electronics, the drive to increase computational power without altering the footprint of a device means that it is necessary to decrease the size of circuitry features. In traditional electronics, this has been achieved using techniques such as photolithography; however, such techniques are often incompatible with flexible substrates. Therefore, methods to increase the definition and decrease the size of printed, conductive features are crucial.

Solvents represent the solution

Researchers at the University of Oxford have developed a solvodynamic printing technique, which utilises a specific carrier solvent, which is immiscible with the ink solvent to reduce the size of printed features. The group has used this method to print lines of conductive silver nanoparticles as narrow as 30μm from a 300μm nozzle. An added advantage of the solvodynamic method is that it can minimise the clogging printing nozzles due to the presence of a carrier solvent.

We see the main advantages of this technology to be as follows:

• Narrow printed line widths (30μm)
• May be tailored to a variety of substrates
• Prevents clogging of printer nozzles
• Can be used with a variety of printed materials

Patent protection

Oxford University Innovation has filed a UK priority patent covering this technology and we are keen to talk to anyone who could aid in its commercialisation.