High Precision Jetting and Dispensing Applications Using A Piezoelectric Micropump

Abstract

Piezoelectric ink jet offers a promising combination of productivity, reliability and uniformity that are appropriate for deposition of precise amounts of material in manufacturing environments. As a micropump, the printhead can place drops very accurately onto a substrate, with placement errors of less than +/ 10 microns. The Spectra SX-128 printhead contains a robust material set, which allows for precision dispensing in a wide variety of applications. For example, flat panel displays (FPD) can be manufactured by using the Spectra SX-128 printhead to ink jet the organic electronic materials, including both large molecule polymers (LEP) and PEDOT. These materials are normally deposited using spin coating, which is a high cost, low yield process. Another benefit of the SX-128 is the ability to calibrate individual nozzles to meet stringent uniformity requirements for display manufacture. By controlling the output of each channel individually, drop sizes are equalized and uniformity requirements for display manufacture can be achieved. The process of measuring very small drops and calibrating the 128 jet printhead to achieve +/ 2% uniformity will be described further in this paper.