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Thick film technology is used to produce electronic devices such as surface mount devices, hybrid integrated circuits and sensors. The manufacture of such devices typically entails the deposition of several successive layers onto an electrically insulating substrate using a screen-printing
Screen-printing

Screen printing 1. A printing technique that uses a woven mesh to support an ink blocking stencil. The attached stencil forms open areas of mesh that transfer ink as a sharp-edged image onto a Substrate ....
 process. A typical thick film process would consist of the following stages:
for electrodes, terminals, resistors, dielectric layers etc.






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Thick film technology is used to produce electronic devices such as surface mount devices, hybrid integrated circuits and sensors. The manufacture of such devices typically entails the deposition of several successive layers onto an electrically insulating substrate using a screen-printing
Screen-printing

Screen printing 1. A printing technique that uses a woven mesh to support an ink blocking stencil. The attached stencil forms open areas of mesh that transfer ink as a sharp-edged image onto a Substrate ....
 process. A typical thick film process would consist of the following stages:

Ink preparation

Inks for electrodes, terminals, resistors, dielectric layers etc. are commonly prepared by mixing the metal or ceramic powders required with an organic
Organic compound

An organic compound is any member of a large class of chemical compounds whose molecules contain carbon. For historical reasons discussed below, a few types of compounds such as carbonates, simple oxides of carbon and cyanides, as well as the allotropes of carbon, are considered Inorganic compound....
 vehicle to produce a paste for screen-printing. To achieve a homogeneous ink the mixed components of the ink may be passed through a three roll mill
Three roll mill

A three roll mill is a machine tool that uses the shear force created by three horizontally positioned rolls rotating at opposite directions and different speeds relative to each other to mix, refine, disperse, or homogenize viscous materials fed into it....
. Alternatively, ready made inks may be obtained from one of the many companies offering products for the thick film technologist.

Screen-printing

Screen-printing is the process of pushing an ink through a patterned woven mesh screen or stencil using a squeegee
Squeegee

A squeegee or squilgee is an onomatopoeia-named tool with a flat, smooth rubber blade, used to remove or control the flow of liquid on a flat surface....
.

Drying/Curing

After allowing a period of time after printing for settling of the ink to occur, each layer of ink that is deposited is usually dried at a moderately high temperature (50 to 200°C) to evaporate the liquid component of the ink and fix the layer temporarily in position on the substrate so that it can be handled or stored before final processesing. For inks based on polymers and some solder pastes that cure at these temperatures this may be the final step that is required. Some inks also require curing
Curing (chemistry)

Curing is a term in polymer chemistry and process engineering that refers to the toughening or hardening of a polymer material by cross-linking of polymer chains, brought about by chemical additives, ultraviolet radiation, electron beam or heat....
 by exposure to UV light.

Firing

For many of the metal, ceramic and glass inks used in thick film processes a high temperature (usually greater than 300°C) firing is required to fix the layers in position permanently on the substrate.

Separation of elements

This step is often necessary because many components are produced on one substrate at the same time. Thus, some means of separating the components from each other is required. This step may be achieved by wafer dicing
Wafer dicing

Wafer dicing is the process by which individual silicon chips or integrated circuits on a silicon wafer are separated following the processing of the wafer....
.

Integration of devices

At this stage the devices may require integrating with other electronic components, usually in the form of a printed circuit board. This may be achieved by wire bonding
Wire bonding

Wire bonding is the primary method of making interconnections between an integrated circuit and a printed circuit board during Fabrication ....
 or soldering
Soldering

Soldering is a process in which two or more metal items are joined together by melting and flowing a filler metal into the joint, the filler metal having a relatively low melting point....
.

External links

Companies that use thick-film technology


Companies providing thick-film screen-printing inks