ICFPE 2013, Jeju Island, Korea, Sept.

10-13, 2013

2D-Footprint R2R Manufacturing Plant for Printed Electronics

Sorin G. Stan1*, Huib van den Heuvel1, and Adrie Boverhof1
1 VDL FLOW, Eindhoven, The Netherlands Presenting author, Sorin G. Stan, s.stan@vdlflow.com; * Corresponding author, Sorin G. Stan, s.stan@vdlflow.com

Keywords
Roll-to-Roll, R2R, Organic Photovoltaics, OPV, OLED, Printed Electronics, Manufacturing

Extended Abstract
Manufacturing electronic components by thin-film deposition techniques on flexible substrates has challenged the engineers in various technical domains for quite some time now. Roll-to-roll (R2R) production techniques offer clear advantages, but sheet-to-sheet (S2S) factories have practically stayed the preferred choice with the first suppliers of flexible displays. More simple devices like sensors can be printed already on plastic foils at sufficiently low prices, but printing and coating the functional layers of other devices like organic photovoltaics (OPV) or large-area OLEDs still require considerable optimization efforts. The existing R2R lines cannot fulfill the technical and functional specifications that enable the transition of bendable complex electronics from research to mass production. Dedicated R&D programs that would eventually lead to the desired cost of ownership of such electronic products are still in place worldwide, but these entire programs struggle with finding whole sets of constraints and solutions. In order to enable the transition from R&D to mass production, a novel concept for the R2R plants of the future is presented. This concept is illustrated in Fig. 1 and has the main advantage that shortening or extending the time spent by the OPV and OLED layers in curing ovens does not affect the length of the manufacturing line in the R2R direction. The 2D-footprint construction presented in Fig. 1 makes use of ovens assembled perpendicularly to the conventional R2R flow, which makes this plant extremely flexible and suitable for all OPV and OLED research activities. Optimized fast-curing equipment can also easily replace the depicted ovens without changing the R2R section of the factory. In addition to the flexibility offered during the curing process, the pilot and manufacturing concept depicted in Fig. 1 features stand-alone operation of each individual R2R module, can combine R2R and S2S processes, avoids touching the functional side of the web, keeps the cost of the cleanroom confined when contamination-free environments are also required, and minimizes the footprint on the factory floor. The R2R line has also been designed Fig.1 Novel 2D-footprint R2R manufacturing plant. to handle webs with a precision inspired by the semiconductors manufacturing industry where cleanliness and accuracy have been the norm for so many years while production yields and costs have continuously improved. It is believed that similar rules will govern the industry of printing and coating complex circuits in the near future, for which the conventional R2R concepts cannot not offer the right solution. To conclude, the 2D-footprint R2R factory as presented in this paper can pave the way toward low-cost printed electronics produced by deposition of thin functional layers on flexible substrates. The concept has been designed to withstand the proof of the future fabrication of large-area electronics on plastic and metallic webs.