Inking system for producing circuit patterns
AssigneeMicroscience Systems Corp.
InventorCarl E. Drumheller
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Thick film inking system where circuit patterns are written by ink feed through an orifice of a writing pen. Line cross-section is controlled by synchronous positive displacement pumping of ink through the orifice with the motion of the substrate with respect to the pen. A dynamic pen control system provides spring and mass compensation and maintains positive, prescribed pen force on the extruding ink thereby maintaining the desired thickness to width ratio of the lines. 7
Claims36
For use in producing patterns on a substrate with viscous material and with the aid of flexurally supported member having an orifice, a system comprising means for moving said substrate with respect to said member, means for controllably feeding said viscous material through said orifice at a volume rate synchronous with the rate of relative movement of said member and substrate, and means coupled to said member and responsive to the viscous forces on the viscous material flowing from said orifice upon said substrate for allowing said viscous forces to determine the vertical displacement of said member to maintain a constant thickness of line of said material in said pattern for a given cross-sectional area of said line.
In a system for writing patterns of viscous material on a substrate with the aid of a pen member having an orifice, the improvement comprising means for moving said substrate with respect to said member, means for controllably feeding said viscous material through said orifice at a volume rate synchronous with the rate of relative movement of said member and substrate, a supply of said viscous material, pumping means for pumping said material through said orifice, said pumping means having means for maintaining said viscous material in a closed volume separate from said supply out of which closed volume said viscous material is pumped to said member thereby minimizing storage of compression energy while said viscous material is pumped.
In a system for writing patterns of viscous material on a substrate with the aid of a pen member having an orifice, the improvement comprising means for moving said substrate with respect to said member, means for controllably feeding said material through said orifice at a volume rate synchronous with the rate of relative movement of said member and substrate, and means for varying the pressure of said viscous material supplied to said member at starts and terminations of the lines of the pattern thereby maintaining constant cross section of line and compensating for compression and expansion of ink at said starts and terminations.
In a system for writing patterns of viscous material on a substrate with the aid of a pen member having an orifice, the improvement comprising a flexural support for said pen member enabling vertical displacement thereof with respect to said substrate, and means responsive to the viscous forces of the viscous material flowing from said orifice upon said substrate for dynamically allowing the vertical displacement of said member to follow and maintain a substantially constant thickness of line in said pattern for a given cross-sectional area of said line.
In a system for writing patterns of viscous material on a substrate with the aid of a pen member having an orifice, and means for moving said member and substrate with respect to each other, the improvement comprising means for confining a volume of said material representing a small portion of the volume of a supply reservoir of said material, means communicating said confined volume and said orifice with each other, and means for hydraulically displacing said material from said confined volume through said communicating means and through said substrate in proportion to the movement of said substrate for controllably feeding said material through said orifice at a volume rate synchronous with the rate of relative movement of said member and substrate with respect to each other.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.