• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.141-145
• /
• 2009

Recently, inkjet technology has emerged as one of the most powerful tools for patterning electronics devices, such as large area display applications, RFID, PCB patterning, etc. By using the Inkjet technology, the droplet speed as well as the size can be controlled precisely. In this paper, the relationship between waveform and droplet size will be investigated by means of experiment. Also the relationship between inkjet speed and droplet size will be discussed. It was shown from experimental results that ink droplet size from the nozzle diameter of $50{\mu}m$ can be varied from 37 to $58{\mu}m$ by modifying the inkjet waveform when the speed of the droplet is 1m/sec. Finally, experimental results indicate that small drops are more difficult to generate than large drops since the jetting conditions for making small drops are sensitively affected by the dwell time variation.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
• /
• v.17 no.4 s.121
• /
• pp.333-341
• /
• 2007

Waveform design method for inkjet printing has been proposed tv pressure wave measurement. The pressure wane inside the inkjet dispenser can be effectively measured by current measurement due to self-sensing capability of PZT. The pressure wave measured from current was verified by commercially availablelaser vibrometer. In order to obtain high speed inkjet droplets, two pulse waveform was designed such that the pressure wane after droplet formation can be minimized.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
• /
• v.26 no.9
• /
• pp.143-147
• /
• 2009

Inkjet printing makes use of ink droplets to form required patterns on a substrate. In order for the inkjet technology to produce reliable patterning tools, the jetting performance needs be controlled precisely. For controlling ink jetting performance, input waveform should be properly designed. In the past, the research was focused on designing dwell time of the input waveform for controlling jetting speed. However, the jetting performance is also closely related to rising and falling time. In this study, the effect of the rising and falling time on droplet speed will be investigated by measuring the droplet speed. In this study, the power OP amp (PA98A) was used in order to drive piezo inkjet head by amplifying the waveform generated from arbitrary function generator. The experimental results show that change of rising and falling time in the waveform not only affect the droplet speed but also optimal dwell time.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
• /
• 2007.05a
• /
• pp.366-372
• /
• 2007

Self-sensing measurement of piezo inkjet and its application are discussed. The pressure wave inside the inkjet dispenser was measured by current measurement due to self-sensing capability of PZT. The pressure wave measured from current was verified by commercially available laser vibrometer. Here, two applications using self-sensing signal were discussed: waveform design for high speed jetting and condition monitoring. For waveform design, two pulse waveform was designed based on self-sensing signal such that the pressure wave after droplet formation can be minimized. For condition monitoring, self-sensing signal was shown to be effective in detecting air bubble trapped in inkjet printhead.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
• /
• 2008.11a
• /
• pp.269-270
• /
• 2008

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.342-347
• /
• 2008

Bridge circuit was developed such that the pressure wave in the inkjet can be measured. In order to test the circuit, the microfab single ejector was used. For the experiment, the head was filled with nano silver ink (20wt%). In order to generate waveform voltage for jetting signal, the Agilent 33120 was used in order to generate arbitrary waveform. For the driver, PZD 350 from TREK was used in order to amplify the waveform. Experimental results show that the designed circuit can effectively detect the pressure wave in the inkjet head.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.9-14
• /
• 2012

In this study, a piezoelectric inkjet nozzle with a rectangular shaped channel has been developed, and the characteristics of droplet formation have been investigated according to the variation of pulse widths in bipolar waveform. The channel of the nozzle was fabricated transparently by a precision machining technique. A tantalum membrane which was attached to a piezoelectric material covers the channel. By applying two types of bipolar waveforms to the piezoelectric actuators, droplet formation through the nozzle was monitored by a CCD camera. For the variety of the first and second pulse widths in the bipolar waveforms, the regimes of single and double droplet formations are presented. The change of droplet velocity which depends on the pulse width and the type of waveform is also discussed.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers C
• /
• v.55 no.8
• /
• pp.417-422
• /
• 2006

This paper presents the effect of driving waveform for piezoelectric bend mode inkjet printhead with optimized mechanical design. Experimental and theoretical studies on the applied driving waveform versus jetting characteristics were performed. The inkjet head has been designed to maximize the droplet velocity, minimize voltage response of the actuator and optimize the firing frequency to eject ink droplet. The head design was carried out by using mechanical simulation. The printhead has been fabricated with Si(100) and SOI wafers by MEMS process and silicon direct bonding method. To investigate how performance of the piezoelectric ceramic actuator influences on droplet diameter and droplet velocity, the method of stroboscopy was used. Also we observed the movement characteristics of PZT actuator with LDV(Laser Doppler Vibrometer) system, oscilloscope and dynamic signal analyzer. Missing nozzles caused by bubbles in chamber were monitored by their resonance frequency. Using the water based ink of viscosity of 4.8 cps and surface tension of 0.025 N/m, it is possible to eject stable droplets up to 20 kHz, 4.4 m/s and above 8 pl at the different applied driving waveforms.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.51-56
• /
• 2021

Using an inkjet printing process, we have investigated a droplet formation of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) near the orifice of a piezoelectric inkjet head. With an attempt to form the smallest droplet without any satellites, we have applied various waveforms such as the unipolar, bipolar, and M-shaped waveforms. It is found that the droplet velocity and volume vary depending sensitively on the waveform width and voltage. Of those, the M-shaped waveform is shown to provide the smallest droplet volume, followed by the bipolar and then unipolar waveforms. The droplet printed on a PET film roll by the M-shaped waveform has the diameter as small as 46.1 ㎛. It is likely that the second short unipolar in the M-shape waveform increases the droplet velocity gradient, rendering the droplet smaller.

• Journal of ILASS-Korea
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.163-169
• /
• 2010

Jetting stability is the most important factors in inkjet printing because printing quality is totally determined by shape of the droplets on the substrate. In order to acquire stable jet, viscosity and dynamic behavior of the ink must be considered. In addition, waveform to drive the inkjet printhead is also to be controlled. In this study, the driving waveform composed of rising time, dwell time and falling time is optimized to obtain a stable jetting using drop watcher system. Also, effect of ink viscosity on jetting is experimentally investigated by changing the temperature of ink cartridge. As a result, jetted drop having uniform velocity is acquired.