Aerosol-based direct-write refers to the additive process of printing CAD/CAM features from an apparatus which creates a liquid or solid aerosol beam. Direct-write technologies are poised to become useful tools in the microelectronics industry for rapid prototyping of components such as interconnects, sensors, and thin film transistors (TFTs), with new applications for aerosol direct-write being rapidly conceived. This paper aims to review direct-write technologies, with an emphasis on aerosol-based systems. The different currently available state-of-the-art systems such as Aerosol Jet CAB-DW, MCS, and aerodynamic lenses are described. A review and analysis of the physics behind the fluid-particle interactions including Stokes and Saffman force, experimental observations, and how a full understanding of theory and experiments can lead to new technology are presented. Finally, the applications of aerosol direct-write for microelectronics are discussed.

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Liquid droplet deposition through a capillary onto a substrate is studied. The application of pressure into the capillary causes a liquid meniscus to form at the outlet. Touching the substrate with the liquid meniscus and subsequent capillary retraction gives liquid deposition on the substrate. Theoretical and experimental studies of the steady liquid bridge structure between the capillary and substrate identified the range of parameters when deposition of small droplets (no blot) can be performed. Experiments revealed that in this range of parameters the size of deposited liquid droplets is less than 10%–15% of inner diameter of the capillary.

Gas dynamic cold spray was first discovered in the 1980s and has since been used as a surface coating process for depositing metals, metal-ceramic composites, metal-carbon nanotube composites and other composite materials onto both flexible and rigid substrates. We recently developed a focused cold spray material deposition tool termed Micro Cold Spray (MCS). MCS is a direct-write tool applicable for printed electronics and has been used to print conductive trace patterns as thin as 50 μm wide using copper, aluminum and tin micro powders. Unlike conventional aerosol processing at 10–100 m/s, aerosol particles in the MCS process are accelerated to speeds greater than 500 m/s. In this paper the possibility to accelerate, focus, collimate, and deposit aerosol particles is theoretically explored using a finite difference approximation method to simulate the flow of Helium through a symmetric converging-diverging nozzle of throat diameter 200 μm. A Lagrangian particle tracking algorithm is used to calculate the particle trajectories and corresponding velocities. This paper presents a comparison of the effect of Stoke’s drag force and Saffman’s lift force on the trajectory and velocity of copper particles 3 μm in diameter.

A combined theoretical/experimental study of micron size aerosol flows through micro-capillaries of diameter about 100 μm and length about 1 cm is presented. It is shown that under proper conditions at a relatively high velocity of about 100 m/s such an aerosol flow reveals a new manifestation of microfluidics: the Saffman force acting on aerosol particles in gas flowing through a micro-capillary becomes significant thereby causing noticeable migration of particles toward the center line of the capillary. This finding opens up new opportunities for aerosol focusing, which is in stark contrast to the classical aerodynamic focusing methodologies where only particle inertia and the Stokes force of gas-particle interaction are typically used to control particle trajectories. A mathematical model for aerosol flow through a micro-capillary accounting for complicated interactions between particles and carrier gas is presented. This model describes the experimental observables obtained via shadowgraphy for aerosol beams exiting micro-capillaries. It is further shown that it is possible to design a micro-capillary system capable of generating a Collimated Aerosol Beam (CAB) in which aerosol particles stay very close to a capillary center line. The performance of such a CAB system for direct-write fabrication on a substrate is demonstrated. The lines deposited by CAB for direct-write fabrication are shown to exhibit widths of less than 5 μm — superior to ink-jet. Materials deposition based upon directed aerosol flow has the potential of finding application in the fields of flexible electronics, sensors, and solar cells. In this paper, the genesis of a new materials deposition method termed Collimated Aerosol Beam Direct-Write (CAB-DW) is discussed.