Mechanics of transfer printing for elastomeric stamps with collapse cavities

Transfer printing technology provides an effective solution for manufacturing flexible electronic devices, enabling efficient, large-scale pick of film components from the donor substrate to the receiver substrate. Traditional transfer printing needs additional external stimuli, such as magnetic field, temperature, laser, or droplets. Here the elastomeric stamps with cavities are proposed to control adhesion. The cavities with and without collapse lead the elastomeric stamps to have different adhesion, which can be controlled by transfer printing pressure without additional external stimuli. A theoretical analysis model with the energy method is presented for the mechanism of the cavity stamp adhesion in the transfer printing process. With the guidance of this analytical model, the maximum pull-off force between the stamp and the film can be estimated. The effect of the stamp geometrical parameters on the interface adhesion force was evaluated in this article. The analytical predictions agree well with the experiments. These results can reveal systematic fundamental mechanisms and reversibly guide the optimization of geometries for stamp design assistance with transfer printing. (c) 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Transfer printing technology is an effective solution for manufacturing flexible electronic devices by picking film components from one substrate to another. This research proposes the use of elastomeric stamps with cavities to control adhesion without external stimuli. A theoretical model based on the energy method is presented to analyze the mechanism of cavity stamp adhesion. The results can guide the optimization of stamp design for transfer printing.