Recently, flexible pressure sensors featuring enhanced sensitivity and durability through nano/micro additive manufacturing have been employed in various fields, including medical monitoring, E-skin technology, and soft robotics. This study focuses on the fabrication and verification of an interdigitated electrode (IDE) based flexible pressure sensor that incorporates microstructures, utilizing a direct patterning-based additive process. The IDE-patterned sample was designed with a total size of 7.95 × 10 mm2, a line width of 150 µm, a spacing of 200 µm, and a probe pad measuring 1.25 × 2 mm2. It was fabricated using AgNP ink on a primed 100 µm thick polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) substrate. The electrode layer was subsequently covered with a sensing layer made of a MWCNT/Ecoflex composite material, resulting in the final pressure sensor sample. Measurements indicated that the sensor exhibited good sensitivity and response speed, and it was confirmed that further improvements in sensitivity could be achieved by optimizing the size, spacing, and height of the microstructures. Building on the flexible pressure sensor structure developed in this study, we plan to pursue future research aimed at fabricating array sensors with integrated circuits and exploring their applicability in wearable devices for pressure sensing and control functions.

In this study, experiments were conducted for micro pattern printing to combine solution atomization process and stencil printing based on electrospray deposition. The stencil mask fabricated by etching the photosensitive glass placed below 0.3 mm distance to substrate has 100 um line width. The process parameters of electrospray deposition system for the atomization of the solution are applied voltage and supply flow rate of the solution. Meniscus angle of cone-jet was optimized by varying the supply flow rate from 0.3 ml/hr to 0.7 ml/hr. Voltage condition was verified having symmetric cone-jet angle and no pulsation at 8.5 kV applied voltage. In addition, a number of micro patterns are printed using a single 1 step process by solution atomization process. Variable line width of approximate 100 um was confirmed by changing conditions of solution atomization regardless of the pattern size of stencil mask.

EHD (electro-hydro-dynamics) patterning was performed under atmospheric pressure at room temperature in a single step. The drop diameter smaller than nozzle diameter and applied high viscosity conductive ink in EHD patterning method provide a clear advantage over the piezo and thermal inkjet printing techniques. The micro electrode pattern was printed by continuous EHD patterning method using 3-type control parameters (input voltage, patterning speed, nozzle pressure). High viscosity (1000cps) conductive ink with 75wt% of silver nanoparticles was used. EHD cone type nozzle having an internal diameter of 50μm was used for experimentation. EHD jetting mode by input voltage and applied 1st order linear regression in stable jet mode was analyzed. The stable jet was achieved at the amplitude of 1.4~1.8 kV. 10μm micro electrode pattern was created at optimized parameters (input voltage 1.6kV, patterning speed 25mm/sec and nozzle pressure -2.3kPa).

The Electrostatic Inkjet system has many applications in cost and time effective manufacturing of printed electronics like RFIDs, OLEDs and flexible displays etc. This paper presents pneumatic ink supply system for an electrohydrodynamic deposition (EHD) setup for the precise pressure control to produce a small amount of discharge at the end of the capillary. The meniscus shape depends upon the applied pneumatic pressure to the ink supply system. Furthermore, this paper also compares meniscus shapes at different applied pneumatic pressures. It is concluded that patterning of constant line-width can be achieved better by controlling the meniscus shape using this technique.