Ink-jet printed electrodes for passive fluid based display

There is an urgent need for change to meet the requirements of green technology for printed circuits for printed electronics and displays. In this paper, a novel and simple process to manufacture electrodes of fluidic base display at room temperature was proposed. Following our prior researches, the processes combined self-assembly polyelectrolyte (SAP) layer deposition, ink-jet patterning of palladium catalyst, and electroless plating to form an electrode pattern on a polyimide substrate. The patterned, high conductive circuit is applied to fluid based displays, such as cholesterol liquid crystal or electro-wetting displays, which are also color patterned by the printing process to discharge the individual color media onto predetermined flexible substrates. This study demonstrates the ink-jet printing electrodes for a 10.4 " cholesterol liquid crystal display on a polycarbonate substrate. The thickness and resistivity of the electrode pattern were measured at about 400 +/- 50 nm and 0.15 ohm/square, respectively. The Flexure-angular examination indicated, after a 2 mm curvature and 2000 tests, that the variation of resistivity variation was less than 1%.