Direct-Write micro/nano-structure for flexible electronic manufacturing

This article focuses on optimizing the electrospinning parameters, and developing a new method of Direct-Write (DW) micro/nano-structure based on Near-Field Electrospinning (NFES) for flexible electronic manufacturing. NFES is a new way to realize controllable electrospinning and precision-positioning of nanofiber, by which nano-structure with diameter from 50 nm to 500 nm can be fabricated orderly and accurately. A tungsten electrode with tip diameter of 25 mum is used to DW nano-structure, with the minimum bias voltage 600 V, minimum electrode to collector distance 500 mum. A micro-structure DW system is designed, by which micro-structure with diameter of several micrometers can be drawn. In this work, a needle tube of 232 mum inside diameter is used as spinneret, electrode to collector distance is various from 2 mm to 10 mm, and the collector moving speed ranges from 0.07 m/s to 7 m/s. The DW process and character of micro-structure such as line width, smoothness and thickness can be controlled by optimizing the electrospinning parameters. The DW micro/nano-structure is continuous and smooth, which can be drawn on expected site and in expected direction with accurate dimension. The new method based on NEFS with the advantage of narrower line width and smoother structure than traditional flexible electronic manufacturing technologies, which is more suitable for the development of flexible electronic manufacturing.