Inkjet Printing Technology: A Novel Bottom-up Approach For Multilayer Ceramic Components and High Definition Printed Electronic Devices

Abstract

This paper describes the methodology of thick film and Multilayer Ceramic Capacitor (MLCC) components manufacturing by inkjet printing. The printing unit is a CERADROP 3D multimaterial inkjet printer. Aqueous conductive and dielectric inks were formulated according to the printheads specifications in terms of viscosity, surface tension, particles size and sedimentation. Jetting behavior was controlled and optimized to reach the best droplets characteristics with regard to the design. Numerical processing simulation tool helps to control the printing job and to identify beneficial potential issues during the processing. Therefore printing parameters (droplet spreading, layer thickness, filling strategy, layer drying, etc.) were optimized according to material and component design characteristics. By this way, high definition and thin conductive tracks were achieved on alumina substrate with good electrical properties. Moreover, two printheads were used to build successively 3D multimaterial MLCC components with thin dielectric and conductive layers (i) with a good margins precision compared to traditional processes and (ii) with very high complex configurations thanks to the flexibility of the inkjet printing process. For both applications, large area components were accessible in a single batch.