Ink-jet Technology

Ink-jet printer technology is now being used for novel applications like electronic circuit board manufacturing and tissue engineering.

Chances are that you have an ink jet printer next to your home computer or at the office. Since they were first introduced in the late 1970s, ink-jet printers have become a popular option since they have continuously improved in quality while dropping in price. But these days, their use is becoming even more extraordinary and is extending far beyond simply printing documents from a computer. It may sound fanciful, but research is proving that the technology is more than capable of spraying something other than conventional ink onto something other than paper.

Typically, ink-jet printers squirt tiny droplets of ink from nozzles in the print-head directly onto a sheet of paper. Commercial ink-jet printers spray individual drops that are just 50 microns in diameter - about half the width of a single human hair. If speed is sacrificed, they are capable of producing even smaller drops making it possible to place the ink very precisely.

Manufacturing electronic circuit boards

The accuracy of the technology makes it a useful alternative for manufacturing intricate electronic circuit boards. Conventionally, screen printing is used to apply a protective mask of chemical-resistant inks onto the copper that forms the circuit. Epson recently succeeded in using an ink-jet process to apply conductive ink and a newly-developed insulator ink onto ultra-thin circuit boards.