Method of assessing ink deposition accuracy in an electronic device printing process

An electronic device testing system for testing an electronic device having a substrate on which is printed a metamaterial structure using a conductive ink, the metamaterial structure having a pattern of conductive elements interspersed with complementary insulating elements, the metamaterial structure having at least a terahertz resonance frequency, the electronic device testing system comprising:

• a terahertz radiation emitter emitting a terahertz radiation beam incident on the metamaterial structure of the substrate, the incident terahertz radiation beam having power at least the terahertz resonance frequency of the metamaterial structure, the metamaterial structure interacting with said incident terahertz radiation beam resulting in an outgoing terahertz radiation beam having a spectral response at least at the terahertz resonance frequency;
• a terahertz radiation receiver receiving the outgoing terahertz radiation beam outgoing and measuring said spectral response at least at the terahertz resonance frequency;
• and
• a controller communicatively coupled to the terahertz radiation receiver, the controller having a processor and a memory having stored thereon instructions that when executed by the processor perform the step of:
• assessing an ink deposition accuracy of said printing based on said measured spectral response;
• and generating a signal based on said assessed ink deposition accuracy.

An electronic device production system comprising:

• an electronic device printing system receiving a substrate, printing an electronic circuit on a given area of the substrate using a conductive ink and printing a metamaterial structure on a remaining area of the substrate using the conductive ink, the metamaterial structure having a pattern of conductive elements interspersed with complementary insulating elements, the metamaterial structure having at least a terahertz resonance frequency;
• and
• an electronic device testing system receiving the previously printed substrate, the electronic device testing system comprising a terahertz radiation emitter emitting a terahertz radiation beam incident on the metamaterial structure of the substrate, the incident terahertz radiation beam having power at least at the terahertz resonance frequency of the metamaterial structure, the metamaterial structure interacting with said incident terahertz radiation beam resulting in an outgoing terahertz radiation beam having a spectral response at least at the terahertz resonance frequency;
• a terahertz radiation receiver receiving the outgoing terahertz radiation beam and measuring said spectral response;
• and a controller communicatively coupled to the terahertz radiation receiver, the controller having a processor and a memory having stored thereon instructions that when executed by the processor perform the step of:
• assessing an ink deposition accuracy of said printing based on said measured spectral response;
• performing an action upon determining that said assessed ink deposition accuracy is unsatisfactory.