Abstract
A novel selective metallization process to fabricate the fine conductive line based on inkjet printing has been investigated. Recently, Inkjet printing has been widely used in flat panel display, electronic circuits, biochips and bioMEMS because direct inkjet printing is an alternative and cost-effective technology for patterning and fabricating objects directly from design without masks. The photosensitive etching resist used in this process is an organic polymer which becomes solidified when exposed to ultraviolet lights and has high viscosity at ambient temperature. A piezoelectric-driven inkjet printhead is used to dispense 20-30 ${\mu}m$ diameter droplets onto the copper substrate to prevent subsequent etching. Repeatability of circuitry fabrication is closely related to the formation of steady droplets, adhesion between etching resist and copper substrate. Therefore, the ability to form small and stable droplets and surface topography of the copper surface and chemical attack must be taken into consideration for fine and precise patterns. In this study, factors affecting the pattern formation such as adhesion strength, etching mechanism, UV curing have been investigated. As a result, microscale copper patterns with tens of urn high have been fabricated.
