• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.3.2-3.2
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• 2011

In recent years, inkjet printing technology has received significant attention as a micro/nanofabrication technique for flexible printing of electronic circuits and solar cells, as well for biomaterial patterning. It eliminates the need for physical masks, causes fewer environment problems, lowers fabrication costs, and offers good layer-to-layer registration. To fulfill the requirements for use in the above applications, however, the inkjet system must meet certain criteria such as high frequency jetting, uniform droplet size, high density nozzle array, etc. Existing inkjet devices are either based on thermal bubbles or piezoelectric pumping; they have several drawbacks for flexible printing. For instance, thermal bubble jetting has limitations in terms of size and density of the nozzle array as well as the ejection frequency. Piezoelectric based devices suffer from poor pumping energy in addition to inadequate ejection frequency. Recently, an electrohydrodynamic (EHD) printing technique has been suggested and proposed as an alternative to thermal bubble or piezoelectric devices. In EHD jetting, a liquid (ink) is pumped through a nozzle and a strong electric field is applied between the nozzle and an extractor plate, which induce charges at the surfaces of the liquid meniscus. This electric field creates an electric stress that stretches the meniscus in the direction of the electric field. Once the electric field force is larger than the surface tension force, a liquid droplet is formed. An EHD inkjet head can produce droplets smaller than the size of the nozzle that produce them. Furthermore, the EHD nano-inkjet can eject high viscosity liquid through the nozzle forming tiny structures. These unique features distinguish EHD printing from conventional methods for sub-micron resolution printing. In this presentation, I will introduce the recent research results regarding the EHD nano-inkjet and the printing system, which has been applied to solar cell or thin film transistor applications.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.585-586
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• 2006

In this paper, we present a design, analysis, fabrication and performance test of the novel DoD metal-jet system for application to the high-density and high-temperature-melting materials. Based on the theoretical analysis, we design the metal-jet print head system and fabricate the metal-jet system, which can eject the droplet of lead-free metal solder in the high-temperature. In the experimental test, we set up the test apparatus for visualization of the droplet ejection and measure the Ejected droplet volume and velocity. As a result, the diameter, volume and the velocity of the ejected droplet are about $65-70{\mu}m$, 145-180 pl and 4m/sec. We also fabricate vertical and inclined 3D micro column structures using the present molten metal inkjet system. The measured geometries of the micro column structures are about height of $2,100{\mu}m$, diameter of $200{\mu}m$ and aspect ratio of 10.5 for vertical micro column and $1,400{\mu}m$ of height and $150{\mu}m$ of diameter for $65^{\circ}$-inclined micro column, respectively.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2006.07c
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• pp.1623-1624
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• 2006

It is a paper for design, manufacture and estimation of industry inkjet head. Simulations for Actuator, Ink flow and Ejection are executed for securing design ability. Relations between droplet and properties of ink are explained closely through simulation for nozzle. Actually, two silicon plates are made by dry and wet etching and directly bonded. PZT materials is attached on the bended ink flow part and cut to $540{\mu}m$ interval by dicing saw. Actuator was seen variation within 10% between simulation and actual head. Through the ejection estimation, it is shown that stabilized driving voltages change according to viscosity and surface tension of metal ink. Using the metal ink of viscosity of 4.8 cps and surface tension of 0.025 N/m, it is possible to eject the stable droplets with 5m/s, 20 pl, 5 kHz.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2011.07a
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• pp.1712-1713
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• 2011

Inkjet technology have many merits in plenty of industrial applications. However, deposited droplet has a very critical issue that is coffee ring effect, for the application to an industrial manufacturing process. To remove the coffee ring effect, the effect of thermal treatment conditions on shapes of inkjet printed silver patterns were investigated in various surface condition. The surface changes were characterized by the contact angle measurement. Droplets from a 50 ${\mu}m$ nozzle were printed on the substrate after optimizing the ejection of individual droplets. Ink with a high boiling point of main solvent results in coffee ring effect. This result implies that the dominant factor that determines the shape of droplet is the drying conditions of main solvent of silver nanoparticle colloidal ink. As a results, selecting a proper thermal treatment conditions is very crucial for better shapes of inkjet printed silver nanoparticle colloidal patterns.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.384.2-384.2
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• 2016

Recent publications reported the self-propelled jumping of coalescing dew droplets on superhydrophobic surfaces [1-2]. We further investigated the initial growth, coalescence, and removal by self-propelled ejection of nano and microscopic water droplets on the superhydrophobic surface of lotus leaves under condensing conditions. By using a high-speed digital camera mounted on an optical microscope, we have found: (1) sub-micrometer droplets form and grow on nanoscale waxy hairs; (2) growing droplets coalesce rapidly upon contact, but never jump off the surface unless the diameter of merged droplets exceeds ${\sim}15{\mu}m$; (3) the diameter and direction of jumping droplets are very narrowly distributed, centered at $20-30{\mu}m$ and ${\sim}20$ degrees from the surface normal, respectively. We present a rationale for these observations on the basis of: (a) the hierarchically rough surface structure on nano- and micro-scales; (b) its chemical composition; and (c) the balance among competing forces of cohesion (surface tension), adhesion and gravity.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.24 no.11
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• pp.101-107
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• 2007

Jettability analysis using one-dimensional(1D) lumped parameter model has been investigated to design the industrial inkjet head with proper drop velocity and drop volume. By simplifying the inkjet head system into an equivalent electrical circuit, lumped model has been developed. Performance of the lumped model is verified by the comparison between measured results of droplet velocity and ejection volume and predicted value. Also, the jetting performance of an inkjet head is characterized by varying the design parameter and driving condition. As a result, simulation results shows good agreement with the experimentally measured value. The developed lumped model enables to easily understand the effect of dimension change and predict the jetting performance.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.85-90
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• 2011

Recently, many high elevation fountain are constructed for the beauty of beach landscape. Typically, a fountain has several nozzles that shoots water upwards or at an angle into the air. But unfortunately, the weather and wind can cause the water soak nearby walkways and pedestrians. Therefore, in this study, a mathematical model of high elevation fountain is suggested to predict the actual travelling distance of water droplet by the wind. To simplify our treatment of the water flow and to avoid issues such as fluid dynamics and surface tension, we have adopted a particle model for the fountain water. The particles are assumed not to interact with each other, and do not deform during their flight through air.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.94-102
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• 2023

Three design parameters were considered in this study: outlet nozzle angle (30°, 60°, 80°), neck length (1 mm, 3 mm), and flow rate (0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8 lpm). A neck diameter of 0.5 mm induced cavitation flow at a venture nozzle. A secondary transparent chamber was connected after ejection to increase bubble duration and shape visibility. The bubble size was estimated using a Gaussian kernel function to identify bubbles in the acquired images. Data on bubble size were used to obtain Sauter's mean diameter and probability density function to obtain specific bubble state conditions. The degree of bubble generation according to the bubble size was compared for each design variable. The bubble diameter increased as the flow rate increased. The frequency of bubble generation was highest around 20 ㎛. With the same neck length, the smaller the CV number, the larger the average bubble diameter. It is possible to increase the generation frequency of smaller bubbles by the cavitation method by changing the magnification angle and length of the neck. However, if the flow rate is too large, the average bubble diameter tends to increase, so an appropriate flow rate should be selected.