Capillary layouts
However, the isishape® etching pastes now provide an environmentally friendly and relatively inexpensive substance that has the consistence of honey and can be processed using screen printing. In this process, the paste is printed onto the ITO layer, which is later to be removed, using a stencil that corresponds to the desired pattern. This ensures that the paste etches away the ITO coating on the areas desired. Using relatively little material, the paste can therefore insert layouts with a resolution of up to 40 micrometers (the thickness of a human hair) into the layer(s) to be removed later, which is sufficient for the requirements of modern touchscreens. The isishape HiperEtch® product program was developed especially for the selective structuring of individual layers or layer combinations in a manner which ensures that the underlying layers remain fully intact.
“This means during purification we can use the simplest water circulation systems, which makes it much easier and faster to expand an existing production facility and its wastewater systems,” says Hans-Jürgen Lemp, head of Structuring Solutions at Merck. At the same time, the interaction of all the components must be finetuned to the customer’s requirements. “We therefore offer isishape® etching pastes not simply as a material; instead, we also deliver a specially tailored structuring concept,” Lemp explains. “Here, we recommend to the customer not only a paste that we tailor to his or her needs for the substrate in question, but also the right screen with a special emulsion. Finally, we provide the best possible conditions for etching activation and cleaning in order to ensure that even the customer’s initial trials will lead to an optimal result.”
However, the isishape® etching pastes now provide an environmentally friendly and relatively inexpensive substance that has the consistence of honey and can be processed using screen printing. In this process, the paste is printed onto the ITO layer, which is later to be removed, using a stencil that corresponds to the desired pattern. This ensures that the paste etches away the ITO coating on the areas desired. Using relatively little material, the paste can therefore insert layouts with a resolution of up to 40 micrometers (the thickness of a human hair) into the layer(s) to be removed later, which is sufficient for the requirements of modern touchscreens. The isishape HiperEtch® product program was developed especially for the selective structuring of individual layers or layer combinations in a manner which ensures that the underlying layers remain fully intact.
Further advantages include the fact that the entire process consists of only four steps (printing, etching, cleaning, and drying). With some of the pastes, it is also not necessary to activate the etching stage by heating the substrate, since etching occurs immediately after printing at room temperature. The environmentally friendly isishape® process uses only water for cleaning — that is, no solvent additives are required.
Focus on environmental protection
“This means during purification we can use the simplest water circulation systems, which makes it much easier and faster to expand an existing production facility and its wastewater systems,” says Hans-Jürgen Lemp, head of Structuring Solutions at Merck. At the same time, the interaction of all the components must be finetuned to the customer’s requirements. “We therefore offer isishape® etching pastes not simply as a material; instead, we also deliver a specially tailored structuring concept,” Lemp explains. “Here, we recommend to the customer not only a paste that we tailor to his or her needs for the substrate in question, but also the right screen with a special emulsion. Finally, we provide the best possible conditions for etching activation and cleaning in order to ensure that even the customer’s initial trials will lead to an optimal result.”
