Miniature sensors using high density screen printing

Abstract

Screen printing is a traditional low cost technique for production of electronic circuitry. Conventionally, screen printing is capable of no smaller than 200-250 micron line and space (500 micron pitch) geometry in anything other than low volume production. In recent years, ERA has been developing a novel approach to screen printing which circumvents the problems with a traditional mesh screen and thereby allows dimensions down to 50 micron line and space to be printed consistently. A major European Commission sponsored project -HIDENIMP -has just commenced with the objective of transferring this manufacturing technology to European industry across a broad range of applications. These include microwave devices (where control of edge definition and gap is important), displays (where minimising track width enhances appearance), precision resistors (where the more controlled deposition characteristics of the µ-Screen can be used and trimming minimised) and environmental sensors. Electronic accessThe research register for this journal is available at

Fabrication of digital microfluidic devices on flexible paper-based and rigid substrates via screen printing

“…The achieved resolution is adequate for performing digital microfluidic operations, as it is shown later in this work. It is worth to note that more precise patterns with high resolutions can be generated using screen printing starting from 6 µm [35], 20 µm [36], 50 µm [37] and 100 µm [38]. However, the initial cost of the screen printing mesh increases for higher resolutions.…”