Vision Control to Improve Superposition Precision of Roll-to-Roll Printed Electronics

Abstract

Printed electronics involves the process of manufacturing electronic components, such as electronic circuits, sensors, devices, ultrathin films, and radio-frequency identifications using printing technology. Conductive electronic ink is used in these processes to form circuits similar to gravure printing or high-speed inkjet on the web in the form of plastic or thin films. Among the various techniques used for printing electronics, superposition printing control technology is the most valuable for forming multilayer circuits and determining the performance and added value of the product. This method of measuring superposition accuracy using charge-coupled device vision cameras is superior to other methods, such as infrared and ultrasonic sensors, in precision improvement because the vision system can simultaneously measure the positions of the web s direction and cross-direction travel. In this study, a control method using three vision cameras was installed before and after the second -stage-printing substrate rolling in a roll-to-roll printing electronic system to correct the superposition error. The application of the proposed method effectively improved the printing process precision. With superposition control using the vision cameras, superposition precision of up to 10-50 μm in two directions was achieved. It was shown that the precision of the roll-to-roll process could be enhanced effectively using this approach.