The Centre for Process Innovation, in the UK, helps companies to develop and scale manufacturing processes. Working with Heidelberg Instruments, the CPI has developed a new high-resolution and -speed roll-to-toll digital lithography tool, to manufacture flexible organic TFTs (OTFTs). The machine can be used to continuously manufacture OTFTs directly onto rolls of plastic film, at rates approaching 0.1 m² every minute.
According to the CPI, the tool can dynamically compensate for distortions in each layer of the transistor, as it is built up. This is achieved by exposing rolls of film with digital images generated in real time. An optical exposure engine, along with a laser and digital mirror device, are used to throughput up to 150MB of image data per second.
Four micron line and space resolution can be achieved in the printed pattern (equivalent to a resolution of 25,000 dpi).
