7/25/2019 Screen Printing of Multilayered Hybrid Printed Circuit Boards on Different Substrates

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/screen-printing-of-multilayered-hybrid-printed-circuit-boards-on-different 1/8

See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273391621

Screen Printing of Multilayered Hybrid PrintedCircuit Boards on Different Substrates

 Article  in  IEEE Transactions on Components, Packaging, and Manufacturing Technology · March 2015

Impact Factor: 1.18 · DOI: 10.1109/TCPMT.2015.2391012

CITATIONS

8

READS

120

9 authors, including:

Sai Guruva Reddy Avuthu

Western Michigan University

38 PUBLICATIONS  131 CITATIONS 

SEE PROFILE

Binu B Narakathu

Western Michigan University

52 PUBLICATIONS  192 CITATIONS 

SEE PROFILE

Paul Daniel Fleming

Western Michigan University

126 PUBLICATIONS  1,583 CITATIONS 

SEE PROFILE

Massood Atashbar

Western Michigan University

124 PUBLICATIONS  1,053 CITATIONS 

SEE PROFILE

All in-text references underlined in blue are linked to publications on ResearchGate,

letting you access and read them immediately.

Available from: Ali Eshkeiti

Retrieved on: 28 June 2016

7/25/2019 Screen Printing of Multilayered Hybrid Printed Circuit Boards on Different Substrates

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/screen-printing-of-multilayered-hybrid-printed-circuit-boards-on-different 2/8

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPONENTS, PACKAGING AND MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 5, NO. 3, MARCH 2015 415

Screen Printing of Multilayered Hybrid PrintedCircuit Boards on Different Substrates

Ali Eshkeiti, Avuthu S. G. Reddy, Sepehr Emamian, Binu B. Narakathu, Michael Joyce, Margaret Joyce,Paul D. Fleming, Bradley J. Bazuin,  Member, IEEE , and Massood Z. Atashbar,  Senior Member, IEEE 

 Abstract— This paper reports on the successful fabrication of amultilayered hybrid printed circuit board (PCB) for applicationsin the consumer electronics products, medical technologies, andmilitary equipment. The PCB was fabricated by screen-printingsilver (Ag) flake ink, as metallization layer, and UV acrylic-basedink, as dielectric layer, on different substrates such as paper,polyethylene terephthalate, and glass. Traditional electronic com-ponents were attached onto the printed pads to create themultilayered hybrid PCB. The feasibility of the hybrid PCB wasdemonstrated by integrating an embedded microcontroller todrive an liquid-crystal display (160  × 100 pixels). In addition,the amount of the ink spreading after printing, the effect of bending on the printed lines, and the effect of the roughness of the

substrates on the resistance of the printed lines was investigated.It was observed that the resistance of the lines increased by≈1.8%, after 10 000 cycles of bending, and the lowest resistanceof 1.06    was measured for the 600  µm printed lines on paper,which had a roughness of 0.175 µm. The advantage of fabricatingPCBs on flexible substrates is the ability to fold and place theboards on nearly any platform or to conform to any irregularsurface, whereas the additive properties of printing processesallow for a faster fabrication process, while simultaneouslyproducing less material waste in comparison with the traditionalsubtractive processes. The results obtained show the promisingpotential of employing screen printing process for the fabricationof flexible and light-weight hybrid PCBs.

 Index Terms— Flexible printed circuit boards (PCBs), hybridPCBs, printed electronics (PEs), screen printing.

I. INTRODUCTION

AS EMBEDDED electronics have become common inan ever widening array of products and applications,

the form factors, flexibility, and materials used to constructcircuit boards must evolve to support emerging applica-tions. As a result, there has been an increasing demand forfurther development and understanding of the characteristictraits pertaining to the printing of flexible electronic circuits

Manuscript received August 4, 2014; revised December 19, 2014; acceptedDecember 30, 2014. Date of publication January 29, 2015; date of currentversion March 5, 2015. Recommended for publication by Associate EditorR. N. Das upon evaluation of reviewers’ comments.

A. Eshkeiti, A. S. G. Reddy, S. Emamian, B. B. Narakathu, B. Bazuin,and M. Z. Atashbar are with the Department of Electrical and ComputerEngineering, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008 USA(e-mail: ali.eshkeiti@wmich.edu; saiguruva.r.avuthu@wmich.edu; sepehr.emamian@wmich.edu; binubaby.narakathu@wmich.edu; brad.bazuin@wmich.edu; massood.atashbar@wmich.edu).

M. Joyce, M. Joyce, and P. D. Fleming are with the Department of Chemical Engineering, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008USA (e-mail: michael.joyce@wmich.edu; margaret.joyce@wmich.edu;dan.fleming@wmich.edu).

Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are availableonline at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TCPMT.2015.2391012

and components. Printed electronic (PE) devices, createdusing traditional printing techniques such as gravure [1], [2],inkjet [3], [4], flexography [5], [6], and screen printing [7], [8]have shown the ability to produce circuits and sensorsfor many applications [9]–[13]. Some examples of PE devicesare organic thin film transistors   [14],   [15], flexibledisplays [16], [17], flexible printed solar cells [18], [19], andsubstrate for surface enhancement Raman spectroscopy [20],which have shown varying levels of applicability for use incommercial applications.

Although the current performance of PE devices does not

match the switching speed, density, and higher current han-dling of traditional solid-state devices, produced using conven-tional manufacturing techniques, there are several advantagesof using printing techniques for the fabrication of less demand-ing devices. These include a lower cost of manufacturing,lower-processing temperatures, and a reduction in resourcesused during fabrication. These advantages have facilitated theneed for the production and manufacturing of PE products ona commercial scale [21], [22]. Moreover, printing techniques,which lend themselves to roll-to-roll (R2R) processes, enableelectronic devices to be produced in high volumes at highspeeds without the intricate process requirements associatedwith conventional silicon manufacturing technologies, such

as complicated photolithographic patterning procedures, hightemperatures, and vacuum deposition methods.

Although many researchers have shown the ability toproduce electronic components and devices on flexiblesubstrates [23]–[28], there have been very few reportsinvolving the printing of printed circuit boards (PCBs) onflexible and rigid substrates, such as paper, polyethyleneterephthalate (PET), polyethylene naphthalate, polyimide, andglass. Most of the currently available flexible PCBs are fab-ricated using methods, such as spin coating, sputtering, andspray coating [29]. These processes are typically used for thedeposition of the conductive materials onto the substrate  [29].Some of the disadvantages associated with these methods

include increased production time and material waste, whichcan be overcome by employing printing methods. To date,there are only a few reports on the printing of PCBs; however,none of these involved the screen printing of a multilayeredhybrid PCB prototype with integrated electronic componentson flexible substrates [30], [31].

Both plastic and paper could play an important rolein the future of light weight and flexible PCBs. Plasticoffers the advantages of high smoothness, transparency, andlow porosity [32],   [33]. Even though plastic is not very

2156-3950 © 2015 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.

7/25/2019 Screen Printing of Multilayered Hybrid Printed Circuit Boards on Different Substrates

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/screen-printing-of-multilayered-hybrid-printed-circuit-boards-on-different 3/8

416 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPONENTS, PACKAGING AND MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 5, NO. 3, MARCH 2015

TABLE I

SUMMARY OF D IFFERENT  CHARACTERISTICS OF S UBSTRATES

INCLUDING SURFACE E NERGY, T HICKNESS ,

AN D ROUGHNESS

amenable to the use of different solvents, it has beenone of the main materials used in conventional flexibleelectronics   [34],   [35]. In comparison with plastic, paper ismore temperature resistant, stiffer, renewable, and may be lesssusceptible to moisture problems [36]. Currently, paper is thematerial of choice for many products used on a daily basis,

and therefore, the fabrication of PCBs on paper may opennew market opportunities for PEs and paper. The ability toproduce flexible PCBs on paper and PET enable them to beplaced on and conform to different form factors and surfaces,where spacing or shape would prohibit the placement of a rigidconventional circuit board. Alternately, for some applications,such as the automotive industry, a rigid transparent PCB onglass would be beneficial to enable devices to be integratedinto the windshields or mirrors of cars. Moreover, glassoffers the added advantages of heat stability, transparency, andsmoothness [37].

In this paper, screen printing was used to fabricatemultilayered PCBs on PET, paper, and glass. Pick and place

equipment was used to attach solid-state components onto theboards to produce a working hybrid PCB. The capability of thefabricated PCB, incorporating an embedded microcontrollerto drive a 160   ×  100 pixels liquid-crystal display (LCD)with 3.0 V power supply was demonstrated.

II. EXPERIMENTAL SECTION

 A. Choice of Materials

1) Substrate:   Three different substrates: 1) 130-µm-thickflexible PET film (Melinex ST 506) from DuPont Teijin Films;2) plate glass from Corning; and 3) paper (NB-RC3GR120)from Mitsubishi were used. Some of the important characteris-

tics of the different substrates are summarized in Table I. Forexample, glass demonstrated a higher surface energy whencompared with paper and PET. Adhesion of the silver inkemployed for traces on all of these substrates was good andshowed promise as substrates for the fabrication of PCBs.The roughness of paper, PET, and glass was measured tobe 0.175, 0.015, and 0.005   µm, respectively, using aWYKO RST-plus optical profiler. Based on these measure-ments, both glass and PET have relatively smooth surfaces,making them good substrates for printing the thin conduc-tive traces. In comparison with the glass and PET, paperis considerably rougher, although this paper is very smooth

by paper standards. However, unlike PET and glass, paperis more absorptive, which can reduce the amount of inkspreading after printing. Since the thickness of a printed inkfilm depends on the amount of ink spreading and absorption, if both properties are controlled, highly conductive lines can beproduced on paper. The roughness and absorptive propertiesof paper could also be an added advantage for ink adhesion.Hence, it is worthy of study, since it is flexible, readilyavailable, tunable, and of low cost.

2) Metal and Dielectric:  There are different materials suchas silver (Ag), gold (Au), and copper (Cu) that can beemployed for the fabrication of electronic circuit boards.In this paper, a Ag flake ink (Electrodag 479SS) and aUV acrylic-based ink (Electrodag PF-455B) from Henkel wereused as the metallization and dielectric layers, respectively.All layers were printed using an AMI 485 semiautomaticscreen printing press at room temperature.

3) Adhesive for Component Attachment:   A commerciallyavailable Ag conductive epoxy (H20E), purchased from EpoxyTechnologies Inc., was used to attach the surface mounted

devices (SMD) to the different substrates. The epoxy wasscreen printed onto the pads prior to the placement of theelectronic components with an automated pick and placeinstrument (MY100sxe) from My Data Inc.

 B. Design of the Circuit 

To demonstrate that the hybrid PCB would work oncefabricated, a microcontroller-based circuit was designed tocontrol an externally attached LCD, and a three-layer PCBlayout pattern was produced. The circuit design consisted of a dc to dc convertor, microcontroller, and other necessarypassive components. The design layout was done usingPCB123 design software and then transferred to a multilayerAdobe Illustrator file for screen generation. The layout of thedesign that consists of two conducting layers and an insulatinglayer, which prevents shorting between the top and bottomAg layers, is shown in Fig. 1.

C. Fabrication of PCB

1) Screen Printing Process:   The conductive and dielectricmaterials were screen printed onto the substrates using anAMI 485 semiautomatic screen printing press at room tem-perature. Screen printing is a process in which the imagecarrier (mask) is not in direct or physical contact with thesubstrate. Fig. 2 shows a schematic of the screen printing

process. The printer consists of a screen printing plate ormesh and squeegee. Typically, the squeegees are made fromrubber or polymeric raw materials. The screen printing plateconsists of a frame that holds the screen mesh and stencil,which is the image carrier. A common frame material used isaluminum, which is known for its lightweight, hardiness, andease of cleaning. The screen or mesh is composed of screenfabric, which is a veil like material composed of metal, fabric,plastic, or other type of material depending on the ink andscreen’s functionality. The stencil can be made using differentprocesses, electronically, or photographically, depending on itspurpose. The screen mesh and stencil materials are highly

7/25/2019 Screen Printing of Multilayered Hybrid Printed Circuit Boards on Different Substrates

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/screen-printing-of-multilayered-hybrid-printed-circuit-boards-on-different 4/8

ESHKEITI et al.: SCREEN PRINTING OF MULTILAYERED HYBRID PCBs 417

Fig. 1. Layout of PCB design created in PCB123 design software. This designconsists of the pads for a dc to dc convertor, a microcontroller and necessarypassive components (red layer: bottom electrodes, green layer: dielectric layer,and yellow layer: top electrodes).

Fig. 2. Typical screen printing process.

dependent on the type of solvents and cleaning agents tobe used during printing. The ink is deposited on top of thescreen mesh and it is swept from one side of the screen tothe other with a squeegee on top of the screen at a definedforce and pressure. The ink passes through the screen meshand is transferred onto the substrate as the squeegee is strokedacross the mesh. This process is very fast and can be done atroom temperature. Screen printable inks have a high viscosity(0.5–50 Pa · s); therefore, only the ink under pressure passesthrough the screen minimizing the amount of ink required.When compared with other methods of printing such asinkjet and gravure, there is relatively lesser ink spreading in

Fig. 3. 3-D vertical scanning interferometer images of (a) silver and(b) dielectric on paper, (c) silver and (d) dielectric on glass, and (e) silver and(f) dielectric on PET.

this process, which plays an important role in the preventionof electrical short circuit in the printed lines.

2) Screen Printing of PCB:   A 320 mesh count screenwas used for printing the materials on the various

substrates. After printing the first or bottom metallizationlayer on all three substrates, the ink was cured for 20 minin a VWR 1320 temperature-controlled oven at 120 °C. Thethickness of the ink film on paper, glass, and PET wasmeasured to be 14.8, 10, and 12.8   µm, respectively,using a Bruker vertical scanning interferometer microscope(CounterGT) [Fig. 3(a), (c), and (e)]. All PCB lines werefound to be continuous (no breaks) and conductive. Next,the dielectric layer was screen printed over the first metallayer. The printed layer was then cured using a UV fusiondrying system equipped with a D bulb. Fig. 3(b), (d), and (f)shows the dielectric layer printed over the Ag layer onpaper, glass, and PET, respectively. The thickness of the

dielectric layer on paper, glass, and PET was measured to be14, 9.46, and 8.62  µm, respectively. As shown, the dielectriclayer was printed uniformly, thereby preventing any shortingbetween the top and bottom Ag layers. Finally, the top metalliclayer was printed and thermally dried in an oven. A photographof three printed layers on PET is provided in Fig. 4(a).

3) Component Attachment:   The operational circuit wasfabricated by attaching SMD components to defined padareas onto the PCB. A silver epoxy was screen printed ontothe pads using a 200-µm mesh screen and polymer squeegeeof 80D hardness. The components were then placed ontothe epoxy using an automated pick and place instrument

7/25/2019 Screen Printing of Multilayered Hybrid Printed Circuit Boards on Different Substrates

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/screen-printing-of-multilayered-hybrid-printed-circuit-boards-on-different 5/8

418 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPONENTS, PACKAGING AND MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 5, NO. 3, MARCH 2015

Fig. 4. (a) Photograph of three layers of printed PCB on PET. (b) Photographof the completed PCB on paper.

from My Data Inc. The samples were then initially curedat 130 °C for 10 min followed by a second cure at 120 °Cfor 5 min. A photograph of the completed PCB on paper isshown in Fig. 4(b).

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

 A. Analysis of Printed Lines

The widths of the printed lines were measured with anImageXpert (KDY Inc.) image analyzer. The results areshown in Fig. 5(a). The patterned 300 and 600   µm lineson paper printed as 263 and 566   µm, which correlate to a−13.3% and −5.6% loss, respectively. The negative gains are

Fig. 5. (a) Summary of linewidth measurement on different substrates.(b) 3-D profilometry picture. (c) Optical microscope image of printed linesfor microcontroller contact pads.

attributed to ink absorption by the paper. On PET, the linewidths are measured as 323 and 625   µm, which correlateto a gain of 7.6% and 4.16%, respectively. The increasein linewidth is attributed to the wetting and spreading of the ink on the PET film. For glass, the line widths were

measured to be 295 and 608 µm, producing a negative gain of −1.6% and positive gain of 1.3%. Fig. 5(b) shows the verticalscanning interferometer images of the printed lines for themicrocontroller contact pads. It was observed that these lineswere printed uniformly, with complete separation from oneanother. The picture of the pads for the microcontroller with50  µm spacing is shown in Fig. 5(c). The separation of thepads can be attributed to the lack of ink spreading.

Fig. 6 shows a comparison of the effect of substrateroughness on the resistance of the printed lines. For example,it was seen that the lowest resistance (1.06  ) was obtainedon paper, for the 600  µm lines. This is because paper absorbsthe ink, thereby keeping the particles in close contact with

one another, and hence the lines are more conductive. Theprinted lines on the glass substrate exhibited lower resistance(1.13   ) than the printed lines on PET (1.16   ) due tothe lower roughness of glass creating a more consistentlylarger cross-sectional area for the line. It was observed thathigher roughness affected the uniformity of printed linesand decreased the conductivity due to variations in ink filmthickness at some points. Fig. 6 shows that the printed lineson the PET are slightly higher in resistance when comparedwith those on glass. This is due to the higher roughness of the PET producing a less consistent and effectively smallercross-sectional area.

7/25/2019 Screen Printing of Multilayered Hybrid Printed Circuit Boards on Different Substrates

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/screen-printing-of-multilayered-hybrid-printed-circuit-boards-on-different 6/8

ESHKEITI et al.: SCREEN PRINTING OF MULTILAYERED HYBRID PCBs 419

Fig. 6. Effect of roughness on resistivity of printed lines.

Fig. 7. SEM images of the printed lines (a) and (b) before bending and(c) and (d) after bending.

 B. Electrical Analysis

1) Line Resistivity:  The effect of the resistivity of the lineson the performance of the circuit was also investigated. TheLCD was driven with a series of conventional resistances, andit was observed that the LCD worked with line resistances of up to 3.7 k. Since the resistance of all the printed lines

was measured to be below 10   , it was determined thatthe performance of the LCD would not be affected by theresistance of the printed lines.

2) Effect of Bending:  The effect of bending of the substrateon the resistance of the lines was also analyzed using a forcegauge (Mark-10). The PCB was mounted on the support of the 3-point test fixture and subjected to 10000 cycles of 5-mmelongation. At each point of elongation, a 3.4% decrease inthe resistance was observed. After 10000 cycles of bending,a 1.8% increase in the base resistance was observed. Thisis negligible for the given above stated tolerance of theline resistance. The scanning electron microscope (SEM)

Fig. 8. Photogragh of powered, operating microcontroller, and passiveelectronics on the printed glass substrate driving an LCD display.

images of the printed lines were acquired using aHitachi S-4500 model SEM, with Quantax 200 softwarepackage before and after bending Fig. 7. Fig. 7(a)–(d) showsthe SEM images of the printed lines before and after bending,respectively. It was observed that even though there were some

small cracks, the printed lines were conductive after bending.3) LCD Operation:   The printed PCB circuit was then

energized and used to drive an LCD display. The codesfor the microcontroller, a low-power Texas Instruments (TI)MSP430 processor, were written using TI’s Code ComposerStudio. Fig. 8 shows the performance of the printed PCB when3 V was applied to it. The preloaded software executing onthe microcontroller produced a graphic message (CAPE), asshown, on the LCD. This effectively demonstrated that theconverter and embedded microcontroller driving an attacheddevice suggest numerous other small battery-operated appli-cations. This includes low cost R2R electronic circuit boardsfor consumer electronics (e.g., in packaging industry) and

medical wearable devices that can be attached to the humanskin, postal security systems (printed directly to packages andenvelopes), and very-light-weight circuit boards for aircraftsor automobiles.

IV. CONCLUSION

Screen-printed multilayered PCBs using PE-depositedmaterials on three distinct substrates were successfully fab-ricated. The different characteristics of PET, paper, and glassas the substrates for PCBs were analyzed. A method for pop-ulating electronic components onto the printed PCB pads wasestablished and demonstrated. The capability of the printed

hybrid PCB circuit to operate correctly and to drive an LCDwas shown. The fabrication of PCBs on flexible substratessuch as paper and PET opens numerous opportunities for thedevelopment of low-cost and light-weight circuit boards forembedded electronic devices and applications that may includethe requirement for conformal shapes or surfaces. At the sametime, the fabrication of PCBs on flexible or rigid glass maylead to new designs for automotive and aerospace applications.

REFERENCES

[1] J. Noh   et al., “Scalability of roll-to-roll gravure-printed electrodes onplastic foils,”   IEEE Trans. Electron. Packag. Manuf., vol. 33, no. 4,pp. 275–283, Oct. 2010.

7/25/2019 Screen Printing of Multilayered Hybrid Printed Circuit Boards on Different Substrates

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/screen-printing-of-multilayered-hybrid-printed-circuit-boards-on-different 7/8

420 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPONENTS, PACKAGING AND MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 5, NO. 3, MARCH 2015

[2] P. H. Lau   et al., “Fully printed, high performance carbon nanotubethin-film transistors on flexible substrates,”   Nano Lett., vol. 13, no. 8,pp. 3864–3869, 2013.

[3] A. Eshkeiti  et al., “Detection of heavy metal compounds using a novelinkjet printed surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrate,”Sens. Actuators B, Chem., vols. 171–172, pp. 705–711, Aug./Sep. 2012.

[4]   B. Yoon, I. S. Park, H. Shin, H. J. Park, C. W. Lee, and J.-M. Kim,“A litmus-type colorimetric and fluorometric volatile organic compoundsensor based on inkjet-printed polydiacetylenes on paper substrates,”

 Macromolecular Rapid Commun., vol. 34, no. 9, pp. 731–735, 2013.

[5]   F. C. Krebs, J. Fyenbo, and M. Jørgensen, “Product integration of compact roll-to-roll processed polymer solar cell modules: Methodsand manufacture using flexographic printing, slot-die coating and rotaryscreen printing,”   J. Mater. Chem., vol. 20, no. 41, pp. 8994–9001,2010.

[6]  J. Olkkonen, K. Lehtinen, and T. Erho, “Flexographically printed fluidicstructures in paper,”   Anal. Chem., vol. 82, no. 24, pp. 10246–10250,2010.

[7]   K. Tyszczuk-Rotko, R. Metelka, and K. Vytras, “Screen-printed carbonelectrodes modified with lead film deposited using different platingmethods as sensors in anodic stripping voltammetry,”  Electrochim. Acta,vol. 92, pp. 335–340, Mar. 2013.

[8]  Y. Wei, R. Torah, K. Yang, S. Beeby, and J. Tudor, “Screen printing of a capacitive cantilever-based motion sensor on fabric using a novel sac-rificial layer process for smart fabric applications,”  Meas. Sci. Technol.,vol. 24, no. 7, p. 075104, 2013.

[9]  J. Kim, K. Kim, S. H. Ko, and W. Kim, “Optimum design of orderedbulk heterojunction organic photovoltaics,”   Solar Energy Mater. Solar Cells, vol. 95, no. 11, pp. 3021–3024, 2011.

[10]   K. Alzoubi, M. M. Hamasha, S. Lu, and B. Sammakia, “Bending fatiguestudy of sputtered ITO on flexible substrate,”  J. Display Technol., vol. 7,no. 11, pp. 593–600, Nov. 2011.

[11] V. L. Calil   et al., “Transparent thermally stable poly(etherimide) filmas flexible substrate for OLEDs,”   Thin Solid Films, vol. 518, no. 5,pp. 1419–1423, 2009.

[12] S. Jampasa et al., “Electrochemical detection of human papillomavirusDNA type 16 using a pyrrolidinyl peptide nucleic acid probe immo-bilized on screen-printed carbon electrodes,”   Biosensors Bioelectron.,vol. 54, pp. 428–434, Apr. 2014.

[13]   X. Liu, M. Mwangi, X. Li, M. O’Brien, and G. M. Whitesides,“Paper-based piezoresistive MEMS sensors,”  Lab Chip, vol. 11, no. 13,pp. 2189–2196, 2011.

[14]   H. Kang, R. Kitsomboonloha, J. Jang, and V. Subramanian, “High-

performance printed transistors realized using femtoliter gravure-printedsub-10  µm metallic nanoparticle patterns and highly uniform polymerdielectric and semiconductor layers,”   Adv. Mater., vol. 24, no. 22,pp. 3065–3069, 2012.

[15]   Y.-Y. Noh, N. Zhao, M. Caironi, and H. Sirringhaus, “Downscaling of self-aligned, all-printed polymer thin-film transistors,”  Nature Nanotech-nol., vol. 2, no. 12, pp. 784–789, 2007.

[16]   B.-Y. Lee and J.-H. Lee, “Printable flexible cholesteric capsule displaywith a fine resolution of RGB subpixels,”   Current Appl. Phys., vol. 11,no. 6, pp. 1389–1393, 2011.

[17] S.-I. Park   et al., “Printed assemblies of inorganic light-emittingdiodes for deformable and semitransparent displays,”   Science, vol. 325,no. 5943, pp. 977–981, 2009.

[18]  J. M. Ding, A. de la Fuente Vornbrock, C. Ting, and V. Subramanian,“Patternable polymer bulk heterojunction photovoltaic cells on plastic byrotogravure printing,”   Solar Energy Mater. Solar Cells, vol. 93, no. 4,pp. 459–464, 2009.

[19]  S. E. Shaheen, R. Radspinner, N. Peyghambarian, and G. E. Jabbour,“Fabrication of bulk heterojunction plastic solar cells by screen printing,”

 Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 79, no. 18, pp. 2996–2998, 2001.[20]   W. W. Yu and I. M. White, “Inkjet printed surface enhanced Raman

spectroscopy array on cellulose paper,”   Anal. Chem., vol. 82, no. 23,pp. 9626–9630, 2010.

[21]  B. K. Park, D. Kim, S. Jeong, J. Moon, and J. S. Kim, “Direct writingof copper conductive patterns by ink-jet printing,”   Thin Solid Films,vol. 515, no. 19, pp. 7706–7711, 2007.

[22]   A. S. G. Reddy, B. B. Narakathu, M. Z. Atashbar, M. Rebros,E. Hrehorova, and M. Joyce, “Printed electrochemical based biosen-sors on flexible substrates,” in   Proc. IEEE Sensors, Nov. 2010,pp. 1596–1600.

[23] W.-H. Yeo  et al., “Multifunctional epidermal electronics printed directlyonto the skin,”  Adv. Mater., vol. 25, no. 20, pp. 2773–2778, 2013.

[24] G. Chitnis and B. Ziaie, “Waterproof active paper via laser surfacemicropatterning of magnetic nanoparticles,”   ACS Appl. Mater. Interf.,vol. 4, no. 9, pp. 4435–4439, 2012.

[25]   Z. Nie, F. Deiss, X. Liu, O. Akbulut, and G. M. Whitesides, “Integrationof paper-based microfluidic devices with commercial electrochemicalreaders,”   Lab Chip, vol. 10, no. 22, pp. 3163–3169, 2010.

[26]  A. C. Siegel, S. T. Phillips, B. J. Wiley, and G. M. Whitesides, “Thin,lightweight, foldable thermochromic displays on paper,”   Lab Chip,vol. 9, no. 19, pp. 2775–2781, 2009.

[27]   M. Ying   et al., “Silicon nanomembranes for fingertip electronics,”

 Nanotechnology, vol. 23, no. 34, p. 344004, 2012.[28] D.-H. Kim et al., “Stretchable and foldable silicon integrated circuits,”

Science, vol. 320, no. 5875, pp. 507–511, 2008.[29]   A. C. Siegel, S. T. Phillips, M. D. Dickey, N. Lu, Z. Suo, and

G. M. Whitesides, “Foldable printed circuit boards on paper substrates,” Adv. Funct. Mater., vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 28–35, 2010.

[30] K. Cheng   et al., “Ink-jet printing, self-assembled polyelectrolytes, andelectroless plating: Low cost fabrication of circuits on a flexible substrateat room temperature,”  Macromolecular Rapid Commun., vol. 26, no. 4,pp. 247–264, 2005.

[31]   S. Koskinen, L. Pykari, and M. Mantysalo, “Electrical performance char-acterization of an inkjet-printed flexible circuit in a mobile application,”

 IEEE Compon., Packag., Manuf. Technol., vol. 3, no. 9, pp. 1604–1610,Sep. 2013.

[32] J. A. Rogers   et al., “Paper-like electronic displays: Large-area rubber-stamped plastic sheets of electronics and microencapsulated elec-trophoretic inks,”   Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. United States Amer., vol. 98,

no. 9, pp. 4835–4840, 2001.[33]   M. E. Roberts, S. C. B. Mannsfeld, R. M. Stoltenberg, and Z. Bao,

“Flexible, plastic transistor-based chemical sensors,”   Organic Electron.,vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 377–383, 2009.

[34]   Y. Sun and H. Hau Wang, “Electrodeposition of Pd nanoparticles onsingle-walled carbon nanotubes for flexible hydrogen sensors,”   Appl.Phys. Lett., vol. 90, no. 21, pp. 213107-1–213107-3, May 2007.

[35]  N. Lim, J. Kim, S. Lee, N. Kim, and G. Cho, “Screen printed resonanttags for electronic article surveillance tags,”  IEEE Trans. Adv. Packag.,vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 72–76, Feb. 2009.

[36] D. Tobjörk and R. Österbacka, “Paper electronics,”  Adv. Mater., vol. 23,no. 17, pp. 1935–1961, 2011.

[37] E. Hrehorova   et al., “Gravure printing of conductive inks on glasssubstrates for applications in printed electronics,”   J. Display Technol.,vol. 7, no. 6, pp. 318–324, Jun. 2011.

Ali Eshkeiti   was born in Iran. He received theB.E. degree in electronics engineering from AzadUniversity, Tehran, Iran, and the M.Sc. degree inelectrical engineering from Western Michigan Uni-versity, Kalamazoo, MI, USA, where he is currentlypursuing the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computerengineering.

His current research interests include design,fabrication, and characterization of printed sensorstructures, wearable sensing systems, transistors,biochemical sensing systems, solar cells, energy

storage devices, and lab-on-a-chip sensing systems.

Avuthu S. G. Reddy  received the B.Tech. degreein electronics and computer engineering from Jawa-harlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad,India, and the M.Sc. degree in electrical engineeringfrom Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI,USA, in 2011, where he is currently pursuing thePh.D. degree with the Department of Electrical andComputer Engineering. His current research interestsinclude design, fabrication, and characterization of printed sensor structures, transistors, microfluidics,and lab-on-a-chip sensing systems.

7/25/2019 Screen Printing of Multilayered Hybrid Printed Circuit Boards on Different Substrates

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/screen-printing-of-multilayered-hybrid-printed-circuit-boards-on-different 8/8

ESHKEITI et al.: SCREEN PRINTING OF MULTILAYERED HYBRID PCBs 421

Sepehr Emamian   received the B.Sc. degree inelectrical engineering from the Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran, in 2010, and the M.Sc.degree in electrical engineering from the Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, in 2012.He is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in electri-cal engineering with Western Michigan University,Kalamazoo, MI, USA.

His current research interests include printedelectronics, design, fabrication, and characteriza-

tion of printed sensor structures, piezoelectric basedpressure sensors, and wearable sensors.

Binu B. Narakathu   received the B.E. degreein electronics and communication from Visves-varaya Technological University, Bangalore, India,the M.Sc. degree in computer engineering fromWestern Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, USA,in 2009, and the Ph.D. degree from the Departmentof Electrical and Computer Engineering, WesternMichigan University, in 2014.

He is currently a Post-Doctoral Fellow with theCenter for Advanced Smart Sensors and Structures,Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering,

Western Michigan University. His current research interests include all aspects

of design, fabrication, and characterization of high performance sensingsystems, microfluidic devices, lab-on-a-chip for point-of-care testing, biosen-sors, bioelectronics, printed electronic devices, and biomedical (or biological)microelectromechanical systems devices for applications in the biomedical,environmental, and defense industries.

Michael Joyce  received the B.S. degree in psychol-ogy and M.S. degree in paper and printing sciencefrom Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI,USA, in 2012 and 2014, respectively. He is currentlypursuing the Ph.D. degree in paper and printingsciences with Western Michigan University, Kala-mazoo, MI, USA.

He is currently a Teaching Assistant with theDepartment of Chemical and Paper Engineering.

He has been involved in various client-supportedprojects for industrial clients through the Centerfor the Advancement of Printed Electronics and the Center for Ink andPrintability. He has also served as a Teaching Assistant for courses regardingdigital printing processes, ink and color production, and digital graphics.He has performed projects utilizing screen, flexo, gravure, and inkjet printmethods, and has created a novel processing method, enabling the creationof stand-alone printed sensors. His doctoral work is focused on the study of metallic ink interactions with poly-di-methyl-siloxane substrates for creationof biocompatible sensors utilizing various printing processes.

Margaret Joyce   received the Ph.D. degree in paperengineering and science from North Carolina StateUniversity, Raleigh, NC, USA.

She was a Technical Director with the industry

for 11 years for a specialty chemical companyserving the paper, textiles, and printing industries.She is currently a Professor with the Departmentof Paper Chemical and Paper Engineering, WesternMichigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, USA, whereshe is the Director of the Center for the Advance-ment of Printed Electronics and the Center for

Coating Research and Development. She is an expert in coatings, substrates,rheology, and surface chemistry. She has authored over 100 referred publi-cations and presentations, and holds three U.S. patents. Her current researchinterests include coating and ink rheology, water soluble polymers, surfacechemistry, paper and ink interactions, and paper and printing processes.

Paul D. Fleming   received the B.Sc. degree inphysics from Ohio State University, Columbus, OH,USA, in 1964, and the master’s degree in physicsand the Ph.D. degree in chemical physics fromHarvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA, in 1966and 1971, respectively.

He is currently a Professor with the Departmentof Chemical and Paper Engineering, Western Michi-gan University, Kalamazoo, MI, USA. He has beeninvolved in industrial research and development with

Phillips Petroleum, Bartlesville, OK, USA, and Gen-Corp Inc., Rancho Cordova, CA, USA. His current research interests includeprinted electronics, digital printing, color management, and paper coatings.

Dr. Fleming is a member of the Imaging Science and Technology, theAustralian Psychological Society, and the Technical Association of theGraphic Arts.

Bradley J. Bazuin  (M’81) received the B.S. degreein electrical engineering from Yale University,New Haven, CT, USA, in 1980, and theM.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineeringfrom Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA,in 1982 and 1989, respectively.

He was a Research Assistant with the Centerfor Integrated Electronics in Medicine associatedwith the Integrates Circuits Laboratory, Center forIntegrated Systems, Stanford University, from 1981to 1988, a part-time MTS and System Engineer

from 1981 to 1989, a Principal Engineer with ARGOSystems, Sunnyvale,CA, USA, from 1989 to 1991, and a Senior Systems Engineer with RadixTechnologies, Mountain View, CA, USA, from 1991 to 2000. He hasbeen a Term Appointed Assistant Professor and an Assistant Professorsince 2000, and is currently an Associate Professor of Electrical andComputer Engineering with Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI,USA. His current research interests include printed electronics, electronic andprinted circuit board circuit design and fabrication, custom integrated circuitdesign, embedded signal processing, wireless communication, softwaredefined radios, and advanced digital signal processing algorithms for physicallayer communication systems.

Dr. Bazuin is a member of the American Society for Engineering Educationand the Institute of Navigation.

Massood Z. Atashbar   (SM’02) received theB.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from theIsfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran,the M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering fromthe Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran,and the Ph.D. degree from the Department of Communication and Electronic Engineering, RoyalMelbourne Institute of Technology University,

Melbourne, Australia, in 1998.He was a Post-Doctoral Fellow with the Centerfor Electronic Engineering and Acoustic Materials,

Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA, from 1998 to1999. He is currently a Professor with the Department of Electrical andComputer Engineering, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, USA.His research interests include physical and chemical microsensor development,wireless sensors, and applications of nanotechnology in sensors, digitalelectronics, and printed electronic devices. He has authored over 160 articlesin refereed journals and refereed conference proceedings.

Dr. Atashbar is the Editorial Board Member and an Associate Editor of theIEEE SENSORS JOURNAL.