Two and three dimensional characterization of screen printed Lines

Screen printing is frequently used in the manufacture of electronics and sensors as it can be used to print virtually any ink onto any substrate and produce a wide range of ink film thickness. During production the ink deposit may vary due to solvent evaporation due to the subsequent change ink rheology. Because of this variation quality assurance and analysis may require 100% inspection. An experimental trial into the effect of ink rheology and non contact measurement technique was carried out. The analysis highlights the limitations of a simplistic approach based on applying a geometry formula based solely on line width with line height inferred based on the screen properties. This difference can be attributed to the changes in the shape of the line