Roll-to-roll process is an emerging mass production method for printed and flexible electronics such as touch screen panel, RFID tag, thin film solar cell, and flexible display due to its high throughput. High precision in printing and coating is required to apply functional materials onto substrate. For such reason, every part of the roll-to-roll equipment needs to be precisely fabricated and to retain its precision under regular operation. In this article, the precision of cantilever type idler roller and a novel method to mitigate its deflection under web tension loading are discussed and the method is verified using both the numerical and the experimental works. The proposed method improves the structural rigidity of cantilever type roller whose advantages, such as low capital cost and high web path configurability, are maintained.
