MEMS Ink Jet Head for Wide-Format Printing

MEMS Ink Jet Head for Wide-Format Printing

MEMS Ink Jet Head for Wide-Format Printing
ART/098CP
20100801 - 20120731
14595

Dr Francis Chee-Shuen Lee
1. A production-ready MEMS ink jet “China Head” for wide-format printings. a. Completion of the “China Head” development circle to meet printing specifications of 600dpi, 299 nozzles, jetting at 12 kHz drop rate 2. Demonstrate quality printing of this patentable “China Head” in a China-made wide-format printer 3. Two IPs or more
Asia Pacific Microsystems, Inc. ASM Assembly Automation Ltd Big Bright Technology Co., Ltd International United Technology Co., Ltd. Micro Base Technology Corp. Minilogic Device Corp. Neojet-Apollojet Imaging Materials Co., Ltd. Shenzhen hong guang technology CO., LTD Subtron Technology Co., Ltd Union Glory Technologies LTD. WPC System Ltd. Yuzu Design Ltd. Zhengzhou LECAI Science & Technology Company Limited [Sponsor]

MEMS thermal ink jet technology has been monopolized and dominated for years by foreign enterprises. Due to the high entry hurdles and the tight-grip of foreign intellectual properties, this technology and home-grown products have been virtually absence in the Chinese industries. More recently, ink jet technologies have also been expanded into applications such as advertisement and bill-board poster printing and other industrial markings. The newest application is the on-demand printing and post-processing of semiconductor materials (also called “printed electronics”) on large format substrates including flexible materials to form electronics and energy units. Opportunity has arisen lately due to the expiration of the fundamental patents of the MEMS ink jet technology after twenty years. The now-established, low cost Chinese wide-format printer business, having their established brand names within China, requires a “China Head” to expand into and to compete effectively in the tens of billions US dollars world markets. It is our purpose in this full project to complete the development of a “free to be used” MEMS ink jet print head compatible to the Chinese wide-format printing applications. This full project will carry the concept blue prints and the first-version key components derived during the seed project into a practical, production-ready “China Head” for the Chinese wide-format printer industry. This “China Head” will also become the reference design for the upcoming applications in printed electronics where the emphasis of the technology development will primarily reside on the jet-able materials exploration.