Printed electronics are electrical devices that have been made by using printing processes to apply functional (conductive) coatings onto various substrates. can be thin, flexible circuits produced at highvolume and low cost. A wide range of potential applications for printed electronics and printed functionalities are under development and many companies are working on the industrialization of these applications, trying to incorporate more functionalities in smaller devices for reduced cost.
There are various printable electronic materials but for our main focus area, Printable inks we can differentiate between Conductive, Resistive, Dielectric and Electrode inks. Conductive inks are filled with silver, carbon and other conductive pigments for circuit, switch and antenna printing. Resistive inks are based on blends of silver, carbon and non-conductive pigments to adjust resistance levels for printed resistors, potentiometers and heating elements. Dielectric inks are used for printing dielectric layers, conformal coatings and encapsulations. And finally, Electrode inks are based on silver/silver chloride for biosensors, ECG electrodes and transdermal drug delivery.
These inks for printable electronics can be used on a variety of substrates such as plastic foils, PCB materials, paper and cardboard, glass and ceramic and textile. The selection of the substrate can limit product usage due to solvent sensitivity, temperature limitations and compatibility. Therefore product performance on the substrate and product/process compatibility with the substrate need to be checked beforehand.
