April 1, 2008 — Trident, a provider of inkjet printhead and ink production for commercial applications, says the design and stainless steel construction of its new 256Jet-D inkjet printhead allow for printing of a wide variety of direct write, printable electronic applications, including printing of traces, contacts, embedded passives and components (resistors, capacitors, inductors, etc.) on printed circuit boards; flexible photovoltaics; fuel cells; batteries; and more.
According to the company, the 256Jet-D revolutionizes digital electronics material printing with its durable design. “Until now inkjet printing for direct write has been limited to R & D labs, partly because most inkjet systems have not been able to handle the corrosive and high viscosity fluids needed for many printable electronic applications,” says Steve Liker, Business Manager at Trident. “The stainless steel 256Jet-D provides this industrial durability and makes inkjet printing a very valuable proposition for printable electronics.”
Whereas previously agglomeration of printing materials during the deposition process meant that printhead nozzles would clog and printheads needed to be discarded and replaced, the nozzle plate of the 256Jet-D can simply be removed, cleaned and reassembled. End users can purchase multiple interchangeable nozzle plates in order to print distinct drop volume sizes with the same printhead. The 256Jet-D is available in two models enabling the printing of two distinct drop volume ranges: 5 – 40 picoliters and 50 – 80 picoliters in size.
The inert stainless steel construction of the 256Jet-D printhead resists the corrosive, aggressive alkaline and acidic materials often used in the deposition of printable electronic components. With the ability to be heated to 70°C and to jet fluids up to 30 cps, the 256Jet-D can print materials with twice as much viscosity as traditional inkjet systems, giving users wider flexibility in material loading and fluid formulation. Its rugged industrial design gives the 256Jet-D printhead an industry-leading lifespan of 90 billion firings.
Along with the 256Jet-D Trident offers a high-performance “Precision Drive Controller” (PDC) which promises to simplify customer integration by providing the electronics and software drive control of each of the printhead’s 256 jets with drop volume precision of plus or minus 2%. The 256Jet-D’s 256 individually controllable jets allow a greater number of drops to be deposited in one area, thereby increasing productivity.