Printing Technology for Flexible Substrates

Publisher: Toray Research Center, ISBN: 1-884730-46-9

Published: 2006

Price: $99.00


Available on CD or Hard Copy

250 pages

Recently, flexible devices have been attracting considerable attention. Flexible devices are made by constructing semiconductor and interconnect materials on a flexible plastic substrate; the simplest type is a printed circuit board.

While flexible printed circuit boards have been in use since the 1970s, demand for them has been surging recently, for use in cellphones and digital consumer electronic devices such as DVD players. Of the various types of flexible devices, flexible displays are attracting special attention, with substantial research and development efforts going into liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and organic EL displays utilizing plastic substrates.

Introduction

    1. Advantages of flexible devices
    2. Manufacturing technology of flexible devices
    3. Current issues faced by flexible devices
PART I. Material technology
    Chapter 1 Flexible substrates
      1.1 Demands and challenges faced by flexible substrates
        1.1.1 Heat resistance
        1.1.2 Dimensional stability
        1.1.3 Gas barriers
        1.1.4 Optical properties
        1.1.5 Surface smoothness
      1.2 Constituent materials of flexible substrates
        1.2.1 Organic substrate materials
        1.2.2 Inorganic substrate materials
      1.3 Gas barrier technology for plastic substrates
        1.3.1 Gas-permeability of plastic
        1.3.2 Formation of gas barrier film
        1.3.3 Japanese relating to gas barrier coatings of plastic substrates
      1.4 Patents related to element and wiring technology for flexible substrates
        1.4.1 Patents related to conventional technology
        1.4.2 Patents related to simplified photolithographic technology
        1.4.3 Patents related to direct draw technology
      1.5 Activities of corporations and research firms
        1.5.1 Sumitomo Bakelite
        1.5.2 Teijin
        1.5.3 Nitto Denko
        1.5.4 Nippon Steel Chemical Group
        1.5.5 Kanegafuchi Chemical Ind. Co., Ltd.
        1.5.6 Ube Industries, Ltd.
        1.5.7 DuPont

    Chapter 2 Organic transistor materials
      2.1 Principle and constitution of organic transistors
      2.2 Demands and challenges facing organic semiconductors for transistors
      2.3 Types and properties of organic transistor materials
        2.3.1 Semiconductor materials
        2.3.2 Gate insulating materials
      2.4 Solubility of organic semiconductor materials
      2.5 Control technology under a molecular association state
      2.6 Organic transistor as an active drive element
      2.7 Activities of corporations and research firms
        2.7.1 National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)
        2.7.2 Tokyo University
        2.7.3 Hitachi
        2.7.4 Seiko Epson
        2.7.5 Sony
        2.7.6 Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)
      2.8 Future outlook

    Chapter 3 Electrode and wiring materials
      3.1 Types and properties of wiring technology
        3.1.1 Conventional technology
        3.1.2 Direct draw technology
      3.2 Materials used for electrodes and wiring
        3.2.1 Nano-metallic-particles
        3.2.2 Conductive metal paste
        3.2.3 Conductive polymer
        3.2.4 Transparent conductive materials
PART II. Processing technology
    Chapter 1 Patterning technology
      1.1 Spin coating method
      1.2 Inkjet method
        1.2.1 Characteristics and issues faced by the inkjet method
        1.2.2 Inkjet method defined
        1.2.3 Characteristics of inkjet process
        1.2.4 Superfine inkjet technology
      1.3 Screen printing method
        1.3.1 Characteristics and issues facing screen printing method
        1.3.2 Screen printing process
        1.3.3 Screen printing conditions and quality
      1.4 Gravure printing method
      1.5 Flexographic printing
      1.6 Nano-imprint technology
        1.6.1 Characteristics and issues facing Nano-imprint technology
        1.6.2 Types of Nano-imprint technology
        1.6.3 Special application example of Nano-imprint
      1.7 Dip-Pen Nanolithography (DPN)
      1.8 Self-assembly technology
    Chapter 2 Wiring and junction technology
      2.1 Wiring through metallic nanopaste
      2.2 Conductivity between layers
      2.3 Usage of metallic nanopaste on semiconductor junction
      2.4 Application development of metallic nanopaste on SIP
    Chapter 3 Transfer technology
      3.1 Background for the demand of transfer technology
      3.2 Fabrication method of plastic substrate TFT
      3.3 Transfer of TFT circuit on plastic substrates
        3.3.1 Sony’ transfer method
        3.3.2 Seiko Epson’s transfer method (SUFTLA)
    Chapter 4 Activities of corporations and research firms
      4.1 Seiko Epson
      4.2 ULVAC Corporation /Harima Chemicals
      4.3 Dai Nippon Printing
      4.4 Toppan Printing
      4.5 National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)
      4.6 Cluster Technology (CTC)
      4.7 Technology Research Association for Advanced Display Materials (TRADIM)
      4.8 Fuji Electric
Part III. Applications
    Chapter 1 Flexible printed circuit boards
      1.1 Manufacturing of FPC
      1.2 Copper-clad lamination
      1.3 Membrane circuit board
        1.3.1 Multi-layered FPC
    Chapter 2 Displays (1) Liquid Crystal Displays
      2.1 Principles of LCDs
      2.2 Drive method of LCDs
      2.3 Constitution and components of LCDs
        2.3.1 Constitution of LCDs
        2.3.2 Components of LCDs
        2.3.3 Liquid crystal cell process
      2.4 LCD formation on flexible substrates
      2.5 Development case studies of plastic substrate LCD
        2.5.1 Flexible LCD utilizing composite film of ferroelectric liquid crystal and polymer fiber
        2.5.2 Flexible reflection type ferroelectric liquid crystal elements
        2.5.3 Flexible LCD using low temperature polysilicon TFT superthin glass substrate
        2.5.4 Low temperature polysilicon TFT LCD produced on plastic substrate using transfer method
        2.5.5 Reflection type color TFT-LCD utilizing plastic substrates (Sharp)
        2.5.6 Flexible displays using polymer network liquid crystal
        2.5.7 Flexible LCDs using printing technology
        2.5.8 Flexible color filter
    Chapter 3 Displays (2) organic EL displays
      3.1 Operating principles of organic EL elements
      3.2 Basic structure of organic EL elements
      3.3 Materials used in organic EL elements
        3.3.1 Flexible substrates
        3.3.2 Organic luminescent material
      3.4 Formation of organic EL elements on flexible substrates
        3.4.1 Formation of drive circuits
        3.4.2 Formation of luminescent layers
        3.4.3 Sealing technology
      3.5 Development examples of organic EL displays
        3.5.1 Organic EL film display
        3.5.2 Active full color organic EL elements
        3.5.3 Color flexible organic EL elements
        3.5.4 Organic EL elements with polymer hole transport layer (screen printing)
        3.5.5 Passive polymer organic EL elements
        3.5.6 Flexible color organic EL display using phosphorescent polymer
      3.6 Activities of corporations and research firms
        3.6.1 Seiko Epson
        3.6.2 Dai Nippon Printing
        3.6.3 Toppan Printing
        3.6.4 Pioneer
        3.6.5 Sanyo Electric
        3.6.6 Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology
        3.6.7 NHK Science & Technical Research Laboratories
        3.6.8 Yamagata University
        3.6.9 State sponsored projects
      3.7 Future outlook
    Chapter 4 Displays (3) Field Emission Displays
      4.1 Principles of FED
      4.2 Fabrication of CNT-FED
    Chapter 5 Electronic paper
      5.1 Concept of e-paper
      5.2 Actual format of e-paper
      5.3 Potential technology fields
        5.3.1 Electrophoretic Display (EPD£?)
        5.3.2 Twist ball method
        5.3.3 Toner display (Fuji Xerox)
        5.3.4 Aerial flight reflection display
        5.3.5 Magnetic thermal e-paper “Thermo Mug”
        5.3.6 Thermal Rewritable Method (Ricoh)
        5.3.7 Photochromic method
        5.3.8 Electrodeposition method (Sony)
        5.3.9 Liquid crystal method
        5.3.10 Electrochromic method (Fujitsu Laboratories)
      5.4 Technology trends and future outlook for e-paper
        5.4.1 Development status of e-paper
        5.4.2 Potential e-paper applications
        5.4.3 Future outlook
    Chapter 6 Solar cells
      6.1 Types of solar cells
        6.1.1 Silicon type
        6.1.2 Compound semiconductor type
        6.1.3 Organic semiconductor type
        6.1.4 Dye-sensitized type
      6.2 Flexible solar cells
      6.3 Japanese patents related to flexible solar cells
      6.4 Principles of dye-sensitized solar cells
      6.5 Materials used in dye-sensitized solar cells
        6.5.1 Substrates
        6.5.2 Semiconductor materials
        6.5.3 Sensitizing dye
        6.5.4 Electrolyte materials
      6.6 Formation of semiconductor electrode film
        6.6.1 Titanium oxide electrodes
        6.6.2 Zinc oxide electrodes
      6.7 Present and future of solar cells
    Chapter 7 Flexible batteries
      7.1 Sheet-like manganese cell
      7.2 Structure and characteristics of lithium-ion secondary batteries
      7.3 Application developments of lithium-ion secondary batteries
    Chapter 8 IC cards/IC tags (RFID)
      8.1 Structure of IC cards/IC tags
      8.2 Manufacture of IC cards/IC tags
        8.2.1 Fabrication of coils
        8.2.2 IC chip mounting
      8.3 Processing of IC cards/IC tags
        8.3.1 Processing of label sealing
        8.3.2 Processing of plastic cards
      8.4 Present and future of IC cards/IC tags
    Chapter 9 Flexible sensors
      9.1 Structure of large-area, flexible pressure sensors
      9.2 Fabrication of large-area, flexible pressure sensors
        9.2.1 Fabrication of organic transistors
        9.2.2 Integration of organic transistors and pressure sensors
        9.2.3 Pastable artificial skin
        9.3 Future outlook