Actively compensated precision overlay in a reverse-offset printing system for realizing printed electronics of a large-area and multi-layer structure

Abstract This study focuses on developing a way to improve the overlay accuracy of the reverse-offset printing system. Investigations were made into how the overlay error is distorted by the six-DOF position error of the roller during the rolling contact through literature review and finite element (FE) simulations. This means that controlling the motion error actively in MD, CD, and yaw direction between the offset roller and the substrate (or cliché) can be the control knobs to compensate for the overlay errors caused by the six-DOF motion errors during rolling contact. With these control knobs, a novel active and automatic correction algorithm of overlay error for a reverse-offset printing system is proposed. A novel reverse-offset printing system is developed to precisely control the six-DOF motion of the roller and print the patterns with high position repeatability. The core modules for the proposed overlay compensation are also explained. To evaluate the proposed overlay compensation algorithm, an overlay printing test is performed in the developed printing system. With the proposed correction algorithm, the overlay error is converged to 1.9 μ m and 2.4 μ m in CD and MD, respectively.