Abstract
Electrohydrodynamic jet (E-jet) printing promises to become a highly efficient and cost-effective high-resolution additive nanomanufacturing technology. However, nanoscale printing of small-molecule solvent inks requires the fabrication of nano nozzles that will accommodate the considerable spreading of the printed droplets. This study documents our steps in developing a fabrication process for nanoscale printing nozzles. First, a silicon nano nozzle mold was fabricated by side-etch lift-off, ultraviolet lithography, and deep reactive ion etching. Then, the nanoscale polymer nozzle was produced by double-casting polydimethylsiloxane and a bonding process. In the application of a polymer nano nozzle for E-jet printing of ethanolic solutions of 1-hexadecanethiol, droplets with a diameter as small as 160 nm were obtained. These results indicate that a polymer nano nozzle can be well adapted to E-jet printing with a fine resolution.
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