CICMT 2008

Influencing Parameters in Droplet Formation

for DoD Printing of Conductive Inks
Dominik Cibis, Klaus Krger

Institute of Automation Technology, Helmut-Schmidt-University/University of the German Armed Forces,

Holstenhofweg 85, 22043 Hamburg, Germany
Dominik Cibis: Phone +49/(0)40/6541-2740, Fax +49/(0)40/6541-2004, E-Mail: dominik.cibis@hsu-hh.de
Klaus Krger: Phone +49/(0)40/6541-2722, Fax +49/(0)40/6541-2004, E-Mail: klaus.krueger@hsu-hh.de

Abstract
The inkjet-printing principle is becoming more and more important for new applications besides conventional
graphic printing. In most cases, the nozzle diameter is the limiting factor when printing colloidal inks that contain
metal particles with different particle size distributions.
When printing conductive silver lines, high resolution on the substrate is desirable, meaning: Small width of the lines
and sharp edges. The volume and thus the diameter of the droplet and consequently the spot size on the substrate
does not only depend on the nozzle diameter of the print head. To a great extent, the droplet volume and velocity can
be controlled by the piezo signal. By varying piezo voltage and piezo pulse duration, the volume of a 100 m nozzle
droplet can be modified in a range from 103 to 295 pL which results in droplet diameters from 58 to 82 m.
Furthermore, the stability of the printing process depends on the energy provided to the droplet by means of the
piezo signal.
As a starting point, this article deals with a study that shows how the droplets volume and velocity depend on the
piezo parameters voltage and pulse length. This is done for micro feeding systems with three different nozzle
diameters: 50, 70 and 100 m. It can be proven that the different volume ranges are overlapping, so that the droplet
volume generated with a 100 m nozzle can be smaller than the volume of a droplet generated with a 50 m nozzle.
However, the use of a 100 m nozzle minimizes the risk of nozzle clogging.
Furthermore, the influence of the mediums viscosity on the printing process is investigated by increasing the nozzle
temperature to lower the inks viscosity. When formulating a drop-on-demand-ink, adjustment of the surface tension
might be difficult. The addition of new components often changes the inks surface tension. Changes occurring in the
droplets characterisic diagram when dispensing inks of different surface tensions are shown in a final study.

Key words: drop-on-demand, ink-jet printing, piezo control signal, viscosity, surface tension
______________________________________________________________________________________________
1. Introduction sary to avoid sedimentation and agglomeration of
metal particles [2]. Often the ink viscosity and surface
Over the last years, printing techniques like ink-jet
tension are modified in the ink production process.
printing are interesting alternatives to conventional
Print parameters such as piezo voltage, pulse duration
photolithography or screen-printing for the produc-
or nozzle temperature have to be adjusted to the ink to
tion of electronic devices [1]. The advantages are not
make it printable.
only the flexibility and reproducibility of the droplet
This article shows the influences of these essential
formation and the possibility to deposit material on
parameters for stable droplet formation. Besides, the
nearly any desired location on top of a substrate, but
velocity v in the moment of impact on the substrate or
also the opportunity of saving material, e.g. silver or
the droplet volume V play an important role when
gold, when printing conductive paths. The method
regarding line widths and thicknesses of conductors.
works contactless, droplets can be generated at fre-
Furthermore, the mass transportation in a droplet, as
quencies of up to tens of kHz.
well as the inks viscosity and surface tension
On the basis of an ink-jettable colloidal silver ink,
influence the conductors sharpness of edges. Nozzle
lines of different widths and thicknesses are printed
heating and a variation of pulse energy and pulse
sucessfully at the Institute of Automation Technology
duration are indispensable means to control Volume
(IfA). Before printing, the formulation of such an ink
and velocity of a droplet.
is of special interest. Stabilizing additives are neces-

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2. Experimental details
The print head system that is used for the experiments
is a piezo-based ink-jet print head [3]. In this study,
three print heads of the same type are used, the nozzle
diameters of the heads are 50, 70 and 100 m. Each
DoD print head is inserted in the drop watcher whose
setup can be seen in figure 1. The droplet formation
process is observed and evaluated, and photos are
taken at certain points in time to measure radius and
velocity of the generated droplets.
Figure 1: The drop watcher system
The system is activated by means of a standard
voltage pulse. Standard means the signal shape does
not change, rise and dwell times of the pulse take
about 420 ns. Controllable parameters are pulse vol-
tage and pulse duration. They influence the stability
of the droplet formation process and the energy
provided to a single droplet determines the droplets
velocity and its volume. Figure 2 depicts the droplet
formation process.
Figure 2: Droplet formation process
The shape and size of a fluid drop significantly
affects its motion as well as the associated heat and
mass transfer process. The drag force depends on the
drop shape and it is one of the factors that determines
the magnitude of the fluid velocity. The surface
tension force acts to minimize the surface energy and
therefore tends to keep a pure fluid drop spherical in
shape. The droplet will deform only when it is subject
to nonuniform or nonsymmetric forces, due to
pressure or temperature variations, such effects may
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overcome the stabilizing influence of surface tension.
A small droplet of pure fluid tends to be spherical due
to the large surface to volume ratio [4]. In the
experiments done here, the ambient atmosphere is
kept constant so that the droplet will stay spherical
after its formation process has ended. The corres-
ponding volume can be calculated as the volume of a
sphere with radius r.
3. The print heads characteristic diagrams
The piezo voltage and pulse duration are used to
control the droplet formation. For measurement of the
kinetic and surface energy, a Matlab program was
developed. Based on image processing, it calculates
the volume of spheric or rotation-symmetric bodies,
the droplets velocity as well as its kinetic and surface
energies.
The printing process is observed with a CCD camera
and a strobe lamp, which emits a flash at a certain
time after the raise of the piezo signal [5]. The piezo
voltage U and pulse duration time tP are the main
control parameters affecting the droplets velocity and
volume. Thus, different spot sizes on a substrate are
possible. As a result, different line widths and
resolutions of conductive paths are achievable.
Furthermore, the shape of the surface area of e.g.
conductive silver lines can be varied by changing the
droplets speed at the moment of impact. Due to that
and additionally in order to run the printer in a stable
range, a characteristic diagram should be measured
for each individual print head - ink combination.
3.1. Measuring of volume and velocity
There are two types of characterictic diagrams:
Number one shows the change of the droplet volume
when changing tP and U, number two depicts the
achievable range of the corresponding droplet velo-
cities. These characteristic diagrams are shown in
figures 3 and 4 and are given for the Microdrop print
head with a nozzle diameter of 100 m.
To measure the volume of a droplet, the formation
process does not necessarily have to come to an end,
a filament that belongs to the droplet formation
process is permitted as well. The only restriction is
the displayable area of the CCD camera.
The velocity is calculated from the distance the
droplet has covered between two different strobe
delay times. In this case, calculation requires a
completed formation process. The solvent ethylene
glycol is used because it is printable very stably, that
means the droplets position at a certain strobe delay
does not change at all and the photo shows sharp
droplet edges.
Due to an overlay of 30 droplets on a photo (compare
figure 2), best results and best accuracy in volume
 CICMT 2008

300

250
V droplet in pL

200
140V
150V
160V
170V
150 180V
190V
200V
210V
100 220V
230V
240V
250V
50
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
t pulse in s

Figure 3: Measured characteristic diagram of the droplet volume with medium ethylene glycole (100 m nozzle)

7
140V
150V
6 160V
170V
180V

5 190V
200V
210V
v droplet in m/s

4 220V
230V
240V
250V
3

0
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
t pulse in s

Figure 4: Measured characteristic diagram of the droplet velocity with medium ethylene glycole (100 m nozzle)

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 CICMT 2008

and velocity calculation are achieved when printing occur. Besides, the voltage ranges for stable droplet
pure solvent. Ethylene glycol has a surface tension of formation differ.
46.8 mN/m and a viscosity of 17.4 mPas at 25 C, so
Table 1: Volume and velocity ranges of different
the solvent is well printable at room temperature.
nozzles with varying piezo voltage
Heating of the print head nozzle is not necessary to
gain a stable droplet formation. Further investigations Nozzle Range with
Voltage
prove that the droplet formation process is stable at Diameter t P-variation
least over the immense number of 130 million drop- V in pL 94 - 103
lets generated within the observation time of 36 60 V
v in m/s 0.3 - 1.0
hours. V in pL 48 - 217
50 m 110 V
The droplet volume, which is shown in figure 3, v in m/s 0.9 - 4.9
reaches values in the range from 103 to 295 pL. This V in pL 60 - 214
120 V
means the 100 m nozzle print head can generate v in m/s 0.2 - 4.3
droplets with diameters from 58 to 82 m when Voltage Range 60 - 130 V
printing ethylene glycole.
V in pL 128 - 166
90 V
3.2. Interruption of the curves v in m/s 0.1 - 0.5
V in pL 72 - 218
Because of the periodic oscillation of the fluid 70 m 140 V
v in m/s 0.2 - 3.5
volume in the capillary of the print head, there exists V in pL 95 - 315
a pulse duration time where the droplet volume 200 V
v in m/s 2.8 - 4.2
reaches a maximum. This can be seen for example in Voltage Range 90 - 200 V
the curve with a value of tP of 28 s and a pulse
voltage of 180 V. For the two green curves, corres- V in pL 122 - 179
150 V
ponding to voltage pulses of 240 and 250 V, the v in m/s 0.6 - 2.5
V in pL 103 - 174
energy provided to the droplet between 14 s and 100 m 160 V
v in m/s 1.0 - 2.8
40 s is so high that the droplet, including its fila- V in pL 156 - 295
ment, does not fit on the screen after detaching from 230 V
v in m/s 1.5 - 6.8
the nozzle. A measurement can not be taken in this Voltage Range 140 - 250 V V min V max v min v max
case. Although the filament of the droplet is too long
and exeeds the observation area, the printing process A shorter pulse duration allows for smaller droplets
does not stop. and there are overlapping ranges, which can be of
Another interruption of the curves can be seen in special interest. In defined (U, tP) combinations it is
figure 4, where the droplet velocity is depicted. If the possible to produce smaller droplets with the 100 m
voltage and thus the provided energy is too high, the nozzle compared to the 50 m nozzle. In the case of
generated volume is divided into two droplets in spite printing conductive inks, that contain metal particles,
of a single one, therefore no single droplet volume is the advantages are obvious: The risk of nozzle
calculated. When building up conductive lines by the clogging is minimized when using the 100 m nozzle
DoD method, a splitting of the generated droplet is for printing conductive lines. Another advantage
not desired. Satellite droplets can reach the substrate arises: By having the possibility to control droplet
in unwanted positions and can cause short circuits. velocity and volume, the line width for an ink-
Consequently only single droplets containing the substrate combination can be varied between 120 and
whole generated volume are taken into account in this 250 m, dependend on the interfacial tension, and,
study, the cases of satellite droplets are not especially, the velocity and volume of the droplet. For
considered. Below 140 V pulse voltage, the energy a good resolution and to facilitate most-densely
provided to the droplet formation process is not placed conductor boards, small widths of the
sufficient, so the filament does not detach from the conductive paths and low droplet velocities and
100 m nozzle. volumes are desired to minimize the spreading effect
at impact on the substrate.
3.3. Comparison of different nozzle diameters
Figures 3 and 4 show, that the droplet volume and 4. Influence of the mediums viscosity and surface
velocity can be controlled significantly by changing tension
the pulse duration and the pulse voltage. The same In the first chapters of this article, the solvent
can be observed with the 50 m nozzle and the 70 m ethylene glycole is used for printing tests to create the
nozzle print heads. The measured volumes and print heads characteristic diagrams. Ethylene glycole
velocities are listed in table 1, voltages are given is printable at room temperature with a dynamic
where maximum and minimum values of V and v viscosity of 17.4 mPas at 25 C. Having a surface

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 CICMT 2008

tension of 46.8 mN/m, this solvent shows a very good The solvents are newtonian fluids and thus the
droplet formation behaviour. That means, there exists viscosity does not depend on the shear rate. For
a wide range of pulse voltages and pulse durations particle loaded inks, the newtonian property is desired
where droplets can be generated in a stable way, and as well, but it is not realizable at all times. During
the surface tension allows for a fast formation of a droplet generation, the shear rate in the nozzle
spheric droplet. exceeds 100000 s-1. Practical experience has shown
When formulating a drop-on-demand-ink, an adjust- that 1000 s-1 is a suitable shear rate for judgement of
ment of the inks surface tension might be difficult. the ink printability.
The addition of new components often changes the In table 2, the marked data indicate the temperature
inks surface tension, but the viscosity as well. E.g. where the solvents viscosity is nearly 14 mPas. By
water with a viscosity/surface tension combination of keeping the viscosity constant, the influence of the
0.9 mPas/72.1 mN/m at 25 C cannot be printed very different surface tensions can be shown. The nozzle is
well. Many satellite droplets occur and the printing heated up to this indicated temperature for each print
process is not reproducible, often the droplet gene- medium. Higher nozzle temperatures are also
ration just stops. permitted and enable printing, but viscosities are not
This part of the article shows the influence of the comparable then. The surface tensions given in
mediums viscosity and surface tension on the table 2 are valid for 25 C. They only change very
printing process, especially on the droplet parameters slightly with temperature and can be assumed to be
velocity and volume. Three solvents with different constant.
surface tensions are used in this study: Ethylene
4.2. Influence of the viscosity on V and v
glycole, terpineol and a glycerin derivate.
The volume and velocity of DoD-generated droplets
4.1. Viscosity of the print medium
can be varied by changing the voltage pulse height U
To allow for stable printing, the solvent or ink should and thus the provided energy or by changing the pulse
not exceed a print head specific viscosity. In the case duration tP (cf. figures 3 and 4 and table 1). Another
of the print head that is used in these experiments, the parameter which can be used to increase V and v is
viscosity where droplet formation starts is about 40 the nozzle temperature and hence the viscosity of the
mPas in the nozzle for media with a high surface printed medium. This can be seen in figures 5 and 6
tension like the glycerin derivate. For media with a for the medium glycerin. No droplets are generated
lower surface tension, like most non-aqueos liquids, below a nozzle temperature of 45 C, the viscosity is
the viscosity must be lower. Table 2 shows the too high and out of the range where the print head
temperature dependency of the dynamic viscosity of allows for a detachment of the fluid from the nozzle.
ethylene glycole, terpineol and a glycerin derivate. The duration of the piezo pulse is kept constant at
tP = 25 s for this study, only voltage and temperature
Table 2: Temperature dependency of viscosities
are modified.
Viscosity in mPas at 1000 s-1
a) Isolines of constant voltage
Nozzle
TER EG GLY If the provided energy is low e.g. in case of 125 V, a
Temperature
very high temperature and low viscosity of the
30 C - 14.2 -
medium is needed to run the printing process. In case
35 C 18.9 11.7 - of higher voltages, e.g. 195 V, the energy is sufficient
40 C 13.6 9.7 - to allow for printing with a higher viscosity of the
45 C 10.0 8.2 38.4 medium. The droplet formation starts at a lower
temperature (45 C) meaning the ranges of volume
50 C 7.7 7.0 31.8 and velocity are wider, using glycerin they span from
55 C 6.1 6.0 26.8 180 pL to 290 pL and from 0.8 m/s to 6.2 m/s (with
60 C 4.9 5.3 23.2 U = 195 V). Consequently, higher piezo activating
65 C 4.1 4.7 20.3
voltages help to increase the ranges of V and v when
increasing the nozzle temperature in parallel to lower
70 C 3.4 4.2 18.1 the ink viscosity (45 C 85 C).
75 C 2.9 3.7 16.3
b) Isolines of constant nozzle temperature
80 C 2.5 - 14.9
For the next study, a constant nozzle temperature is
85 C 2.2 - 13.6
considered. It can be said that the voltage ranges
Surface where a stable droplet formation process can be
31.4 mN/m 46.8 mN/m 62.5 mN/m
Tension observed is increasing with decreasing viscosity.

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 CICMT 2008

320

300

280

260

240
195V
V droplet in pL

220 190V
185V
180V
200
175V
170V
180 165V
160V
160 155V
150V
140 145V
140V
135V
120 130V
125V
100
40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90
Nozzle Temperature in C

Figure 5: Temperature dependency of measured droplet volume with medium glycerin (100 m nozzle)

195V
v droplet in m/s

4
190V
185V
180V
3 175V
170V
165V
160V
2 155V
150V
145V
1 140V
135V
130V
125V
0
40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90
Nozzle Temperature in C

Figure 6: Temperature dependency of measured droplet velocity with medium glycerin (100 m nozzle)

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 CICMT 2008

Using the glycerin derivate at a temperature of 45 C, tension of 46.8 mN/m, with the advantage of being
a voltage of 195 V is needed to produce droplets and printable even at room temperature. When formu-
it is the only value that works. For 85 C, droplets are lating a colloidal DoD-ink, components with a low
generated within a voltage range from 125 to 195 V boiling point in the liquid phase can cause problems
(15 different voltages tested). The lower viscosity at higher nozzle temperatures. As a result, nozzle
reduces the minimum voltage to start droplet gene- clogging effects can occur and stop the printing
ration. Table 3 lists the intervals of achievable process.
droplet volume and velocity ranges at a certain nozzle
temperature. The change in V and v is realized by 5. Conclusions
increasing the piezo activating voltage from a
Conductive lines of different widths and thicknesses
minimum value, where droplet generation begins, up
can be printed at the IfA using a DoD printer and
to a maximum value, where the droplet splits into
colloidal inks. The print head is based on a piezo
many smaller droplets due to the high amount of
actuator and can handle a couple of inks with
supplied energy. The column for glycerin corresponds
different viscosities and surface tensions. With a
to figures 5 and 6 and table 3 is supplemented by the
Matlab based bitmap evaluation program, the DoD
solvents ethylene glycol and terpineol. The areas
generated droplets velocities and volumes are
marked red indicate the temperatures where the
measured. In a first step, a characteristic diagram
mediums viscosity is about 14 mPas.
shows the dependency of velocity and volume on the
Table 3: Volume and velocity ranges at different pulse duration and on the piezo pulse voltage. The
nozzle temperatures volume of a droplet can be tripled by adjusting the
Nozzle pulse duration and it is even possible to produce
TER EG GLY
Temperature smaller droplets with a 100 m nozzle than with a
30 C
V in pL no droplet 162 - 280 50 m nozzle, dependend on the print parameters. In
v in m/s formation 1.0 - 5.0
V in pL 169 - 181 156 - 305 no droplet
a second step, three different media with different
35 C
v in m/s 0.9 - 1.7 1.0 - 5.5 formation surface tensions are analyzed. Varying the viscosity
40 C
V in pL 150 - 192 155 - 344 by heating the print head nozzle, the influence of the
v in m/s 0.8 - 3.9 1.1 - 6.2 solvents viscosity on the volume and velocity ranges
V in pL 143 - 248 131 - 351 179
45 C
v in m/s 1.0 - 6.4 0.6 - 6.3 0.8
of the generated droplets are pointed out. Having the
V in pL 146 - 298 146 - 356 169 - 220 same viscosity when using an adjusted nozzle
50 C
v in m/s 1.1 - 7.3 0.9 - 6.4 1.1 - 2.5 temperature, the influence of the inks surface
V in pL 143 - 301 153 - 362 151 - 225
55 C tensions on the printing process can be shown.
v in m/s 0.9 - 7.8 1.2 - 6.4 0.8 - 3.8
V in pL 131 - 314 176 - 363 144 - 241 In a next step, the shape of the piezo signal will be
60 C
v in m/s 0.9 - 8.2 1.3 - 6.7 0.9 - 5.3 varied to be able to optimize the print parameters and
65 C
V in pL 121 - 315 178 - 367 151 - 267 signal shape to enlarge the amount of printable inks.
v in m/s 0.9 - 8.2 1.4 - 6.5 1.2 - 5.7
V in pL 114 - 321 174 - 351 135 - 281
70 C
v in m/s 1.0 - 8.4 1.3 - 6.7 1.1 - 6.0 References
V in pL 104 - 301 169 - 346 129 - 285
75 C
v in m/s 1.1 - 7.6 1.5 - 6.6 1.0 - 6.2 [1] J. Perelaer, Ink-jet Printing and Microwave
80 C
V in pL 138 - 380 125 - 295 Sintering of Conductive Silver Tracks, Journal of
v in m/s 1.5 - 6.2 no single 0.9 - 6.2 Advanced Materials, Vol. 18, pp. 2101-2104, 2006
V in pL 134 - 340 droplet 122 - 294
85 C [2] U. Currle, Observations on Particle Loaded
v in m/s 1.0 - 8.1 1.0 - 6.3
Surface Silver Inks, 16th European Microelectronics and
31.4 mN/m 46.8 mN/m 62.5 mN/m
Tension Packaging Conference, Oulu, Finland, June 17.-20.,
As the viscosities in the areas marked red are almost 2007
the same, the influence of the solvents surface [3] Microdrop Technologies GmbH, Micro Dispen-
tensions on the volume and velocity ranges can be sing Systems of liquids in the nano- to picoliter range,
shown. Terpineol with the lowest surface tension Norderstedt, Germany, http://www.microdrop.de/
allows for the slowest droplet speed at maximum [4] S. S. Sadhal, Transport Phenomena with Drops
voltage and a small volume range at low values. and Bubbles, Springer-Verlag, New York, Chap-
Glycerin with the highest surface tension allows for ter 2, p. 17, 1997
droplets with the fastest speed and a much bigger
[5] D. Cibis, System Analysis of a DoD Print Head
volume range. However, the best droplet formation
for Direct Writing of Conductive Circuits,
behaviour and the most stable printing process
International Journal of Applied Ceramic Tech-
without interruptions due to nozzle plate cleaning is
nology, Vol. 4 [5], pp. 428-435, 2007
realized with ethylene glycole, having a surface

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