Direct Fabrication of Copper Nanoparticle Patterns through Electrohydrodynamic Printing in Cone-Jet Mode

Recently, there has been growing interest in direct patterning of conductive nanoparticles on various substrates without utilizing complex micro-fabrication lithography process. The direct fabrication process using electrohydrodynamic printing is expected to be a powerful tool of application for direct patterning in the field of printed electronics. The key advantage of printing through electrohydrodynamic jetting in stable cone-jet mode is achievement of high resolution patterns. This article presents the direct patterning of the copper nanoparticles through electrohydrodynamic printing in cone-jet mode. The patterning was performed on glass substrates at different flow-rates by applying the highest value of applied voltage in stable-cone jet operating envelop. The minimum pattern width achieved with electrohydrodynamic printing at flow-rate of 20 µl/hr and applied DC voltage of 2.6 kV is 32 µm with 2 µm standard deviation. The pattern width achieved through electrohydrodynamic printing is 3.125 times smaller than the nozzle diameter.