Inkjet Printing of Functional Materials

This article introduces the November 2003 issue of MRS Bulletin on Inkjet Printing of Functional Materials. The issue is devoted to the emerging non-graphic-arts uses of inkjet printing as a technique for depositing and patterning functional materials in the liquid phase onto a substrate. The articles provide an overview of a selected range of representative applications in the field of structural ceramics, polymer electronics, and protein chips, and address some of the key challenges that face the broad scientific and industrial community as it attempts to apply a mature and well-developed graphic arts printing technique to the deposition of functional materials.