Terahertz technology for quality inspection of printed electronics

印刷电子（PE）是用于制造定制电子器件的新兴技术，例如，太阳能电池，电池，传感器，在一个大的体积使用卷对卷的压力。然而，到目前为止，还没有允许在工业辊对辊印刷机上进行在线检测的设备。目前，为了进行印刷电子的表征，PE制造商必须求助于非原位实验室分析方法，即，在生产线外，这需要关闭印刷机以提取样品进行调查。此外，这些表征方法是破坏性的，需要大量的分析和处理时间。缺乏在线质量控制工具是一个主要的缺点：生产不符合目标性能的印刷品会造成重大的金钱和时间损失。因此，由于缺乏在线质量检查，废物的数量在回收或丢弃此类电子废物时成为潜在的污染源，造成不可逆转的环境损害。2019年，产生了大约54百万吨电子垃圾，每年以惊人的速度增加2百万吨。如果没有替代解决方案来阻止电子废物的增加，印刷电子产品在商品中的加速使用将变得越来越昂贵，最终可能需要仅限于奢侈品。 我们的产品包括一个在线检测设备，可以在印刷过程中实时监测并通知PE制造商印刷品的特性。为了做到这一点，我们建议整合印刷质量控制条（QCB）分析他们使用一种新的方法称为太赫兹（THz）光谱。该解决方案允许对印刷电子产品进行连续的非接触式质量控制，而无需关闭印刷机，并大幅减少电子废物。

Printed electronics (PE) is an emerging technology for manufacturing customized electronics devices, e.g., solar cells, batteries, sensors in a large volume using roll-to-roll presses. However, up to now, there is no equipment that allows in-line inspection on industrial roll-to-roll presses. Currently, to perform the characterization of printed electronics, the PE manufacturer must resort to ex-situ laboratory analysis methods, i.e., outside the production line, which requires press shutdown to extract a sample for investigation. In addition, these characterization methods are destructive and require extensive analysis and processing time. The lack of an in-line quality control tool is a major drawback: producing prints that do not meet the target performance generates significant monetary and time losses. Consequently, the amount of waste, due to the lack of in-line quality inspection, represents a potential source of contamination when recovering or discarding such e-waste, causing irreversible environmental damage. In 2019, approximately 54 megatons of e-waste were generated, with an alarming increase of 2 megatons per year. Without the rapid arrival of alternative solutions to disrupt the increase of e-waste, the acceleration of the use of printed electronics in commodities will become increasingly costly and may eventually need to be limited to luxury goods. Our product consists of an in-line detection device that monitors and informs in real-time the PE manufacturer concerning the characteristics of the print as it is being pressed. To do this, we propose to integrate printed quality control bars (QCB) analyze them using a novel approach called terahertz (THz) spectroscopy. This solution allow for continuous, non-contact quality control of printed electronics without necessitating a press shutdown and dramatically reducing e-waste.