Control of Evaporation Behavior of an Inkjet-Printed Dielectric Layer Using a Mixed-Solvent System

In this study, the evaporation behavior and the resulting morphology of inkjet-printed dielectric layers were controlled using a mixed-solvent system to fabricate uniform poly-4-vinylphenol (PVP) dielectric layers without any pinholes. The mixed-solvent system consisted of two different organic solvents: 1-hexanol and ethanol. The effects of inkjet-printing variables such as overlap condition, substrate temperature, and different printing sequences (continuous and interlacing printing methods) on the inkjet-printed dielectric layer were also investigated. Increasing volume fraction of ethanol (VFE) is likely to reduce the evaporation rate gradient and the drying time of the inkjet-printed dielectric layer; this diminishes the coffee stain effect and thereby improves the uniformity of the inkjet-printed dielectric layer. However, the coffee stain effect becomes more severe with an increase in the substrate temperature due to the enhanced outward convective flow. The overlap condition has little effect on the evaporation behavior of the printed dielectric layer. In addition, the interlacing printing method results in either a stronger coffee stain effect or wavy structures of the dielectric layers depending on the VFE of the PVP solution. All-inkjet-printed capacitors without electrical short circuiting can be successfully fabricated using the optimized PVP solution (VFE = 0.6); this indicates that the mixed-solvent system is expected to play an important role in the fabrication of high-quality inkjet-printed dielectric layers in various printed electronics applications.