• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.31 no.8
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• pp.653-658
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• 2014

Roll-to-Roll printing process has become a great issue as a breakthrough for low cost and mass production of electronic devices such as organic thin film transistor, and etc. To print the electronic devices, multi-layer printing is essential, and high precision register control is required for this process. Unlike stop-and-repeat printing process, it is impossible to control the register in a static state since the roll-to-roll process is a continuous system. Therefore, the behavior of web such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyimide (PI) by the tensile and thermal stress generated in the roll-to-roll process as well as motor control of driven rolls has to be considered for a high precision register control. In this study, the correlation between curing temperature and thermal deformation of PET web is analyzed. Finally, it is verified experimentally that the temperature disturbance generates the more serious register error under the higher curing temperature.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.51-57
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• 2010

The shape of the register mark for the image processing becomes very important, because the printing quality is determined by the error correction between the register marks for the image processing. In this paper, printing marks are developed using the image process for the gravure printing method which is commonly being used in roll to roll, high resolution printing. The marks which can be cited to the flexible display print are developed The developed register marks which satisfies 10[${\mu}m$] error tolerance are tested under 70[mpm] printing conditions and confirmed through the experiments.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.31 no.11
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• pp.969-974
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• 2014

Previously fabricated electronic devices were used for vacuum manufacturing processes such as conventional semiconductor manufacturing. However, they are difficult to apply to continuous processes such as roll-to-roll printing, which results in very high device manufacturing and processing costs. Therefore, many developers have been interested in applying continuous processes to contact printing or noncontact printing technologies and they proposed various continuous printing techniques instead of conventional batch coating. In this paper, we proposed improved gravure offset printing process as one of the contact printing technique. We used etching pattern geometry with soft core blanket roll for printing of ultra fine line below the 10um.Using this technique we obtained flexible metal grid mesh film as transparent conductive film.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.25 no.8
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• pp.17-20
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• 2008

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.27 no.9
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• pp.16-19
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• 2010

This paper presents how to design and fabricate the gravure offset printing system for enhancement of register precision. Factors of precision error are caused by imprecision of gravure plate, deformation of substrate, printing quality change due to the change of ink viscosity, Imprecision of printing machine, and so on. This study suggests concept design of gravure offset printing system which is able to minimize or remove these error factors.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.23-29
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• 2013

Recent advances in printing technology have increased the productivity of the roll-to-roll (R2R) printing process for printed circuitry. In the R2R printed electronics, characteristics of printed and coated layers are one of the most important issues that determine the functional quality of final products. The slot-die technology can coat a large area with high uniformity using low-viscosity materials; determining the process parameters is important to obtain excellent coating qualities. In this study, a viscocapillary model was used to predict qualities of coated layers and patterns. On the basis of analysis results, a novel meta model was derived using design of experiment methodology to improve accuracy. Sensitivity analysis was performed to define major parameters in R2R slot-die coating process. The coating speed was found to most significantly affect the coated layer thickness and was easily controlled. The performance of the proposed model is verified through experimental studies. Based on the statistical analysis results, R2R slot die process can be optimized to guarantee a desired thickness.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.867-874
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• 2010

RFID printing technology has emerged recently as an important tool for leading future IT. Therefore, many manufacturers concerning on low cost and mass production of the related products pay close attention to the printing technology. In order to realize printed electronics, the technologies for fine line-width/gap printing and registration are essential work. This study proposes a precise Roll to Roll control system that is capable of tilting two posts. Two controllable tilting posts can adjust film position at traverse direction for the precision registration. A mathematical model for representing the geometric features of each posts in Roll to Roll printing system is established first. Then an operating program is built to implement the system and to control film movement. For experimental test, a hard ware system is fabricated which is consisted of two AC servo motors, two posts tilting mechanisms, several guide rolls, and so on. The test results show the proposed system can control the film position precisely at transverse direction.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.28 no.10
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• pp.1153-1158
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• 2011

Roll-to-roll process is an emerging mass production method for printed and flexible electronics such as touch screen panel, RFID tag, thin film solar cell, and flexible display due to its high throughput. High precision in printing and coating is required to apply functional materials onto substrate. For such reason, every part of the roll-to-roll equipment needs to be precisely fabricated and to retain its precision under regular operation. In this article, the precision of cantilever type idler roller and a novel method to mitigate its deflection under web tension loading are discussed and the method is verified using both the numerical and the experimental works. The proposed method improves the structural rigidity of cantilever type roller whose advantages, such as low capital cost and high web path configurability, are maintained.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.26 no.10
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• pp.65-73
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• 2009

For mass production of printed electronics in roll-to-roll fashion, precision tension control is important to reduce register errors. Register error should be minimized within several to tens of microns for many electronic devices to be manufactured through printing technology. In order to achieve this goal, tension disturbance must be attenuated before printing process within a certain range. In this paper, a certain tension range which allows maintaining register error within 10 micron was defined with specific operating conditions. A LQG controller was proposed instead of the conventional PI controller for precision tension control using a multivariable feedback. A guideline to determine design parameters for calculating LQ gain was proposed. The proposed LQG controller was compared to both PI controller and LQ regulator with white noise by numerical simulations. Results showed that the proposed LQG controller was effective for attenuating tension disturbance with white noise.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.28 no.10
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• pp.1131-1140
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• 2011

A new rotary gravure-offset printing unit is constructed by paralleling a gravure plate cylinder, a blanket cylinder and a impression roller. A Muti-Unit Gravure-Offset Printing Press(MUGOP) equipped with a series of the 3 printing units is utilized for roll-to-roll fine printing. Its core technology is precise over-piling printing of fine patterns. The severe problems of 'slurring' and 'doubling' in typical offset printing are unavoidable, which can be eliminated by applying a soft pad-type blanket cylinder and the unique 'true rolling' technique. Nip pressure between the blanket cylinder and the plate cylinder is measured by the constant pressure control system which equipped with load cells attached on the cylinders' axes. The running circumference of the blanket cylinder is increased to reach the same circumference of the plate cylinder as the pressure increasing, so that the specifications of the blanket cylinder is determined by the relationships of its shore hardness, diameter and nip pressure. When a softer blanket is used, a blanket cylinder of smaller diameter could give higher nip pressure. Realization of the true rolling technique on the MUGOP makes multilayer printing possible as well as fine printing in printed electronics.