Alfred I-Tsung Pan

Advances in thermal ink-jet printing

In recent years, ink jet has emerged as one of the mainstream printing technologies. Since its market inception in 1985, Hewlett-Packards thermal ink jet technology (TIJ) has evolved progressively from a 12 nozzle 96 dpi print head to a 300 nozzle 600 dpi print head. TIJ has made rapid progress enabling it to print text output on plain paper that challenges laser printers, and realistic photographic images that rival silver halide, at a low consumer price. Thermal ink jet technology continues to enjoy a greater unit market share than any other digital printing technology and all other ink jet technologies combined. The driving forces for the advancement of TIJ have been better, faster, and cheaper printers for consumers. These goals involve key attributes such as ink performance (gamut, sharpness, fastness), minimum deliverable colorant (drop volume), rate of colorant delivery (firing frequency, nozzle integration, firing chamber volume), and print engine cost per unit throughput. In this paper, key technology challenges for TIJ will be outlined. New materials and new processes that are required for the advancement of thermal ink jet printing are discussed. Recently, competing ink jet methods have (re-)emerged, notably piezoelectric ink jet. References will be made to piezoelectric ink jet when appropriate.

Uniform metal patterning on micromachined 3D surfaces using multistep exposure of UV light

Focal depth limitations prevent use of normal lithography tools and processes on three-dimensional structures. A relatively little known form of uniform metal trace patterning over extreme 3-D structured wafers by a multi-step exposure method, called stitching technology, has recently been developed by Hewlett-Packard Company, with equipment support from the Ultratech Stepper Company, the result of which is being reported in this paper. The basic idea is to slice the metal lines to be patterned into topographic layers that can each be exposed in one step. Patches of patterned metal lines can thus be stitch-ed to one another (thus, the term stitching). Exposure of one photo-resist layer by stitching takes several individual exposures at different focus planes. A patent has been applied for this method on behalf of the Hewlett Packard Company. Results of the present investigation demonstrate the superior uniformity of metal trace pattern over 350-um deep trenches produced by multi-step exposure, as compared to the conventional single-step exposure method, typically used on planar semiconductor wafer. The integrated method offers an enabling technology for patterning of extensive topography typically required for a multitude of MEMS structures and designs, novel interconnect structures as well as advanced packaging applications. The method is simple, accurate and relatively low-cost in comparison with other 3-D exposure techniques available and capable of 3-D structure patterning.