Fabrication of Uniform Patterns via Constant-Current Electrohydrodynamic Printing

Abstract

A constant-current electrohydrodynamic printing (EHDP) system is developed to product uniform polymer patterns. The EHDP system utilized a closed-loop fuzzy control to maintain a constant current during the production of nano/micropatterns, such that the liquid ejection can be stabilized and uniform patterns can be achieved. The experimental results show that the electric current during EHDP process can be stabilized and the fluctuation can be effectively suppressed by the regulation of output voltage. Polymer line patterns were generated by using this EHDP system to investigate the effect on the improvement of uniformity patterns. The line widths of printed lines were in the range of 39.86 ~ 49.01 μm, and the average line width, standard deviation and coefficient of variation were 44.36 μm, 2.67 μm and 0.060, respectively. This distribution of line widths was more uniform than that of generated from traditional constant-voltage EHDP system.