Direct write technologies
Edited by Dr. Prabir Sarkar
Direct Write
The term “Direct Write” (DW) in its broadest sense can mean any technology
which can create two- or three-dimensional functional structures directly onto flat
or conformal surfaces in complex shapes, without any tooling or masks.
Although beam deposition, direct printing, extrusion-based and other AM processes fit
this definition; for the purposes of distinguishing between the technologies we will limit
our definition of DW to those technologies which are designed to build Free form
structures.
We will only discuss those technologies which add material to a surface.
DW processes can be subdivided into five categories
1. Ink-based
2. Laser transfer
3. Thermal spray
4. Beam deposition
5. Liquid-phase
6. Beam tracing processes
I. Gibson l D. W. Rosen l B. Stucker . Additive Manufacturing Technologies
Ink based
Ink-Based DW
The most varied, least expensive, and most simple approaches to DW involve the use of liquid inks. These
inks are deposited on a surface and contain the basic materials which become the desired structure. A
significant number of ink types are available, including, amongst others:
• Colloidal inks
• Nanoparticle-filled inks
• Fugitive organic inks
• Polyelectrolyte inks
• Sol–gel inks.
After deposition, these inks solidify due to evaporation, gelation, solvent-driven reactions, or
thermal energy to leave a deposit of the desired properties.
A large number of research organizations, corporations, and universities worldwide are involved in
the development of new and improved DW inks.
DW inks are typically either extruded as a continuous
filament through a nozzle
or deposited as droplets using a printing head.
Important rheological properties of DW inks include their
ability to
(1) flow through the deposition apparatus,
(2) retain shape after deposition, and
(3) either span voids/ gaps or fill voids/gaps, as the case
may be.
To build three-dimensional DW structures it is highly
desirable for the deposited inks to be able to form a
predictable and stable 3D deposition shape, and to
bridge small gaps. For
Nozzle Dispensing Processes
Nozzle DW processes are technologies which use a pump or syringe mechanism to push DW inks through an orifice
for deposition onto a substrate. A 3-axis motion control system is typically used with these nozzle systems to enable
deposition onto complex surfaces or to build-up scaffolds or other 3D geometry
For nozzle processes, the main differentiating factors between devices are the:
(1) nozzle design,
(2) motion control system, and
(3) pump design.
Nozzle design
• size and shape of the deposit,
• directly influences the smallest feature size,
• effect on the types of inks which can be used (viscosity).
The motion controller
• dimensional accuracy and repeatability of the deposit,
• the maximum size of the deposit which can be made,
• the speed at which deposition can occur.
The pump
• volumetric control and repeatability of dispensing,
• How deposits can be started and stopped,
• and the speed at which deposition can occur.
The difference between these three factors for different manufacturers and designs determines the price and performance
of a nozzle-based DW process.
Micropen and nScrypt are two companies with well-developed extrusion
nozzles and deposition systems for DW. Micropen stopped selling machines in
2008 and currently sells DWservices and solutions; however, many of their
machines are still used by existing customers.
Simple DW nozzle devices can be built using off-the-shelf syringes, pumps, and
three-axis motion controllers for a few thousand dollars, such as by using the
Fab@Home system developed at Cornell University
Although the types of materials which have been deposited successfully using nozzle-based processes are
too numerous to list, examples include :
• Electronic Materials – metal powders (silver, copper, gold, etc.) or ceramic powders (alumina, silica, etc.) suspended in
a liquid precursor that after deposited and thermally post processed forms resistors, conductors, antennas,
dielectrics, etc.
• Thermoset Materials – adhesives, epoxies, etc. for encapsulation, insulation, adhesion, etc.
• Solders – lead-free, leaded, etc. as electrical connections.
• Biological Materials – synthetic polymers and natural polymers, including living cells.
• Nanomaterials – nanoparticles suspended in gels, slurries, etc.
Quill-Type Processes
• DW inks can be deposited using a quill-type device, much like a quill pen can be used to deposit writing
ink on a piece of paper.
• These processes work by dipping the pen into a container of ink.
• The ink adheres to the surface of the pen and then, when the pen is put near the substrate, the ink is
transferred from the pen to the substrate.
• By controlling the pen motion, an accurate pattern can be produced.
• The primary DW method for doing this is the dip-pen nanolithography (DPN)
technique developed by a number of universities and sold by Nanoink, Inc.
• This process works by dipping an atomic force microscope (AFM) tip into an inkwell
of specially formulated DW ink.
• The ink adheres to the AFM tip, and then is used to write a pattern onto a
substrate
Inkjet Printing Processes
• This is primarily done to form complex electronic circuitry on flat surfaces, as deposition onto a conformal substrate is
difficult.
• The primary benefits of inkjet approaches to direct write are their speed and low cost.
• Parallel sets of inkjet print heads can be used to very rapidly deposit DW inks.
• By setting up arrays of print heads, very large areas can be printed rapidly.
The primary drawbacks
• direct write are the difficulty inherent with printing on conformal surfaces,
• the use of droplets as building blocks,
• more stringent requirements on ink rheology than other ink processes,
• an a limited droplet size range.
Most inkjet print heads work best with inks of low viscosity at or near room temperature. However, the rheological
properties (primarily viscosity) which are needed to print a DW ink can often only be achieved when printing is done at
elevated temperatures.
Aerosol DW
Aerosol DW processes make deposits from inks or ink-like
materials suspended as an aerosol mist. The commercialized
version of this approach is the Aerosol Jet process developed by
Optomec (which also sells the LENS process
1. The Aerosol Jet process begins with atomization of a liquid
molecular precursor or a colloidal suspension of materials,
which can include metal, dielectric, ferrite, resistor, or
biological materials.
2. The aerosol stream is delivered to a deposition head using a carrier gas.
3. The stream is surrounded by a coaxial sheath air flow, and exits the chamber through an orifice directed at the
substrate.
4. This coaxial flow focuses the aerosol stream onto the substrate and allows for deposition of features with
dimensions as small as 5 mm.
5. Typically either laser chemical decomposition or thermal treatment is used to process the deposit to the desired
state.
Laser Transfer DW
When a focused high-energy laser beam is
absorbed by a material, that material may be
heated, melted, ablated, or some combination
thereof. In the case of ablation, there is direct
evaporation (or transformation to plasma) of material.
1. During ablation, a gas or plasma is formed, which
expands rapidly as further
2. laser energy is added.
3. This rapid expansion can create a shock wave
within a material or it can propel a material.
4. By focusing the expansion of the material during ablation; utilizing shock waves produced by laser ablation; or
taking advantage of rapid thermal expansion inherent with laser heating, materials can be accurately transferred in
a very repeatable and accurate manner from one location to another.
5. Laser transfer DW makes use of these phenomena by transferring material from a foil, tape, or plate onto a
substrate. By carefully controlling the
6. energy and location of the impinging laser, complex patterns of transferred material can be formed on a substrate.
Thermal Spray DW
Industries, in recognition of thermal spray’s versatility and
economics, have introduced it into manufacturing
environments.
The majority of modern thermal spray applications are
“passive” protective coatings, and they rarely perform an
electronic function. The ability to consolidate dissimilar
material multilayers without substrate thermal loading has
long been considered a virtue for thick-film electronics.
• Material is introduced into a combustion or plasma
flame (plume) in powder or wire form.
• The plume melts and imparts thermal and kinetic
energy to the material, creating high velocity droplets.
• By controlling the plume characteristics and material
state (e.g., molten or softened) it is possible to deposit
a wide
• range of metals, ceramics, polymers, or composites
thereof. More details in lab
Beam Deposition DW
• Several direct write procedures have been developed based upon vapor deposition technologies using, primarily,
thermal decomposition of precursor gases.
• Vapor deposition technologies produce solid material by condensation, chemical reaction
• or conversion of material from a vapor state.
• In the case of chemical vapor deposition (CVD), thermal energy is utilized to convert a reactant gas to a solid at a
substrate. In the regions where a heat source has raised the temperature above a
• certain threshold, solid material is formed from the surrounding gaseous precursor
• reactants.
• The chemical composition and properties of the deposit are related to the
• thermal history during material deposition. By moving a localized heat source
• across a substrate (such as by scanning a laser) a complex geometry can be formed.
Laser CVD
Laser Chemical Vapor Deposition (LCVD) is a DWprocess
which uses heat from a laser to selectively transform gaseous
reactants into solid materials.
In some systems, multiple gases can be fed into a small
reactant chamber at different times to form multimaterial
structures; or mixtures of gases with varying concentrations
can be used to form gradient structures. Sometimes flowing
jets of gas are used to create a localized gaseous
atmosphere, rather than filling a chamber with the
gaseous precursor materials.
Georgia Tech’s LCVD system has deposited materials such as carbon, silicon carbide, boron, boron nitride, and
molybdenum onto various substrates including graphite, grafoil, zirconia, alumina, tungsten, and silicon.
Direct write patterns as well as fibers have been successfully deposited. A wide variety of materials and
deposit geometries makes LCVD a viable technology for further direct write
developments.
Focused Ion Beam CVD
A focused ion beam (FIB) is a beam of ionized gallium atoms created when a
gallium metal source is placed in contact with a tungsten needle and heated. Liquid
gallium wets the needle, and the imposition of a strong electric field causes
ionization and emission of gallium atoms. These ions are accelerated and focused
in a small stream (with a spot size as low as a few nanometers) using electrostatic
lenses.
Electron Beam CVD
Electron beams can be used to induce CVD in a manner similar to FIB CVD and
LCVD. Electron beam CVD is slower than laser or FIB CVD; however, FIB CVD
and electron beam CVD both have a better resolution than LCVD
Liquid-Phase Direct Deposition
• Similarly to the vapor techniques described above, thermal or electrical energy can
• be used to convert liquid-phase materials into solid materials.
• These thermochemical and electrochemical techniques can be applied in a localized manner to
create prescribed patterns of solid material.
• Drexel University illustrated the use of thermochemical means for DW traces using ThermoChemical Liquid
Deposition (TCLD). In TCLD, liquid reactants are sprayed through a nozzle onto a hot substrate.
• The reactants thermally decompose or react with one another on the hot surface to form a solid deposit on
the substrate.
• By controlling the motion of the nozzle and the spraying parameters, a 3D shape of deposited material can
be formed.
• Thermochemical and electrochemical techniques can be used to produce complex geometry solids at small
length scales from any metal compatible with thermochemical or electrochemical deposition, respectively.
Beam Tracing Approaches to Additive/Subtractive DW
By combining layer-wise additive approaches with freeform beam (electron, FIB, or
laser) subtractive approaches, it is possible to create DW features.
Many coating techniques exist to add a thin layer of material to a substrate. These include
physical vapor deposition, electrochemical or thermochemical deposition, chemical
vapour deposition, and other thin filmtechniques used in the fabrication of integrated circuits.
Once these layers are added across the surface of a substrate, a freeform beam
technology can be used to trim each layer into the prescribed cross-sectional geometry.
Electron Beam Tracing
Electron beams can be used to either cure or remove materials for DW.
Standard spin-on deposition coating equipment can be used to produce thin films between 30 and 80
nm. These films are then exposed to a prescribed pattern using an electron beam.
Following exposure, the uncured material is removed using standard IC-fabrication techniques.
This methodology can produce line-edge definition down to 3.3 nm. A converse approach can also be
used, whereby the exposed material is removed and the unexposed material remains behind. In the
case of curing, low energy electrons can be utilized (and are often considered more desirable, to
reduce the occurrence of secondary electron scattering). These techniques fit well within existing IC
fabrication methodologies and enable maskless IC fabrication.