Printing Methods and Options
Every device and substrate works best with a specific printing method or ink type. Some of the most common printing methods include:
Advanced Printed Electronics Manufacturing
Through printed electronic production methods, manufacturers can design and print circuits onto a variety of flexible substrates. Printed electronics are now used to create electronic devices ranging from flexible keyboards to electronic skin patches.
“Printed electronics” is an umbrella term for a variety of more specific manufacturing methods, but experts predict that the collective market will grow as large as $73 billion by 2025. Common applications now include flexible screens, intelligent packaging, and many others that are transforming both consumer and industrial markets—especially as available substrates become thinner and more flexible.
Printed Electronics: Impact and Benefits
There are multiple different techniques for printing electronics. Many electronic goods can be printed with inkjet and digital printers using conductive ink. Other inks that can’t be used with traditional printers can be printed through screen and nozzle dispensing systems. Beyond creating the circuitry lines that connect different parts, printed electronics technology can now print everything from semiconductors and transistors to batteries.
Benefits of Printed Electronics
The capability to print electronics has changed how many manufacturers and product developers do business. Circuits need no longer be enclosed in bulky devices, so manufacturers can track the production process more thoroughly.
For example, goods can be marked with radio frequency identification (RFID) labels that can be scanned or passively tracked to facilitate better supply chain visibility and inventory management. Using intelligent labels, sensors, and displays throughout manufacturing and commercial facilities ultimately gives companies more control over their inventory. It even offers companies remote monitoring capabilities.
Some of the direct benefits of printed electronics include:
Printed electronics encompass a wide range of conventional and nonconventional electronic goods, with the latter category including active fabrics and clothing, flexible displays, and smart labels. Different inks can also be matched with different substrates for varying degrees of flexibility.
Printed electronic goods can be printed much faster than it takes to use traditional electronics fabrication processes. Printing electronics merely requires a printing and curing period rather than the semi-manual integration of circuitry and wire assemblies. This allows companies to meet demand faster and maintain better control over their inventories.
Directly, printed electronics cost less than standard circuits that require a multitude of specialized parts and materials. As the manufacturing process for printing electronics continues to grow, more goods will follow the same designs and be more efficiently produced. Once a facility or a chosen manufacturing partner has installed a global printing base, they can produce a wider variety of goods with less specialized equipment.
The conductive ink is only used where needed, so there is much less material waste. Printed electronics can also use a variety of substrates, including paper, to reduce the risk of expensive waste.
Applications for Printed Electronics
Printed electronics can benefit every industry that uses electronics. Some of the key industries taking advantages of printed electronics include:
- Advertising: Printed electronics have facilitated the use of flexible screens and other media devices that advertisers can use to interact with audiences more continuously.
- Consumer goods: Logistics companies and retailers benefit from printed electronics. They can track and better organize shipments of goods to keep showroom or store floors well-stocked.
- Electronics: With printed electronics, electronic goods can be more flexible than ever. Flexible keyboards were one of the first popular printed consumer goods that highlighted the benefits of printed electronics.
- Healthcare: Personalized healthcare increasingly includes opportunities to use data such as daily walking habits, heart rate, blood pressure, and sleep patterns. Wearable devices with printed biosensors can easily monitor and collect this information.
- Mobility: Printed electronics are helping to improve mobility. Instead of patients and people with serious health conditions being restricted to a bed or their homes, they can now leave their homes more safely by using wearable devices that communicate with their medical provider.
- Telecommunications: When combined, printed electronics and 3D printing offer manufacturers an array of possibilities. Some companies are exploring the benefits of 3D printing antennas that have electronics printed into the material to send and receive stronger signals.
Key Applications
While the above industries and markets overall have been transformed by printed electronics, the technology has also facilitated many interesting innovations. These include:
Inkjet
Inkjet printers are easy to set up and use. They work best to create organic semiconductors and other soluble, low-viscosity elements.
Screen
Screen printers create thicker, sturdier lines for more durable circuits. Applications include printing on antennas and circuit boards.
Flexographic
Another popular method for high-volume orders, flexographic printing uses relief plates. The plates can apply ink to a variety of substrates such as metallic films, paper, and plastic.
Techprint specializes in the design and manufacturing of printed electronic products. Our in-house printing utilizes high speed automatic press equipment for screen-printing, flexography, pad printing, and hot stamp. We offer engineering support for design, prototyping, and final volume manufacturing. We have extensive experience in all types of materials and inks to meet your custom requirements. We provide complete in-house product manufacturing capabilities.
Techprint has designed and manufactured various printed electronic products for the industrial, medical, instrumentation, and security markets;
- Medical Bio-Sensors
- Thin film Batteries
- RFID antennas
- Flex circuits
- Pressure sensor switches
- Smart cards
- Thermal sensors
- Transdermal patches
- Shielding and Insulators
Printing and Finishing Process
- Printing and Finishing Process
- Silkscreen
- Flexographic
- Hot Stamp
- Digital
- Pad Print
- Offset
- Die Cutting
- Laser cutting
- Laser marking
- Laminating
- Embossing
- Slitting
- Sheeting
- Packaging
Materials
- Silver conductive inks
- Silver/Silver Chloride inks
- Carbon resistive inks
- Dielectric inks
- Cathode inks
- Printable Adhesives
- Radio-lucent inks
- X-Ray image inks
- Polyester film
- Polycarbonate/Lexan films
- PEN films
- Polyimide
- Tyvek
- Kevlar
- Polystyrene
- Polypropylene
- Polyethylene
- Vinyl
- Acrylic
Professional Associations
- UL
- CSA
- IPC
- ESD
- RoHS
QC Process & Certification
- ISO 9001
We specialize in creating high-quality printed electronic solutions that streamline manufacturing processes, give products smarter capabilities, and make users safer. Printed electronics are the ideal solution for building smart devices and many other types of electronics. Contact us or request information to get your next project started.
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