TY - GEN

T1 - Instant inkjet circuits: Lab-based inkjet printing to support rapid prototyping of ubicomp devices

AU - Kawahara, Y.

AU - Hodges, S.

AU - Cook, B.S.

AU - Zhang, C.

AU - Abowd, G.D.

PY - 2013/9/8

Y1 - 2013/9/8

N2 - This paper introduces a low cost, fast and accessible technology to support the rapid prototyping of functional electronic devices. Central to this approach of 'instant inkjet circuits' is the ability to print highly conductive traces and patterns onto flexible substrates such as paper and plastic films cheaply and quickly. In addition to providing an alternative to bread boarding and conventional printed circuits, we demonstrate how this technique readily supports large area sensors and high frequency applications such as antennas. Unlike existing methods for printing conductive patterns, conductivity emerges within a few seconds without the need for special equipment. We demonstrate that this technique is feasible using commodity inkjet printers and commercially available ink, for an initial investment of around US$300. Having presented this exciting new technology, we explain the tools and techniques we have found useful for the first time. Our main research contribution is to characterize the performance of instant inkjet circuits and illustrate a range of possibilities that are enabled by way of several example applications which we have built. We believe that this technology will be of immediate appeal to researchers in the ubiquitous computing domain, since it supports the fabrication of a variety of functional electronic device prototypes.

AB - This paper introduces a low cost, fast and accessible technology to support the rapid prototyping of functional electronic devices. Central to this approach of 'instant inkjet circuits' is the ability to print highly conductive traces and patterns onto flexible substrates such as paper and plastic films cheaply and quickly. In addition to providing an alternative to bread boarding and conventional printed circuits, we demonstrate how this technique readily supports large area sensors and high frequency applications such as antennas. Unlike existing methods for printing conductive patterns, conductivity emerges within a few seconds without the need for special equipment. We demonstrate that this technique is feasible using commodity inkjet printers and commercially available ink, for an initial investment of around US$300. Having presented this exciting new technology, we explain the tools and techniques we have found useful for the first time. Our main research contribution is to characterize the performance of instant inkjet circuits and illustrate a range of possibilities that are enabled by way of several example applications which we have built. We believe that this technology will be of immediate appeal to researchers in the ubiquitous computing domain, since it supports the fabrication of a variety of functional electronic device prototypes.

KW - Capacitive sensors

KW - Conductive ink

KW - Digital fabrication

KW - Inkjet-printing

KW - Rapid prototyping

KW - Flexible electronics

KW - Ink jet printers

KW - Printing

KW - Thermoelectric equipment

KW - Ubiquitous computing

KW - Conductive patterns

KW - Electronic device

KW - Flexible substrate

KW - High-frequency applications

KW - Large area sensors

KW - Tools and techniques

KW - Ink

U2 - 10.1145/2493432.2493486

DO - 10.1145/2493432.2493486

M3 - Conference contribution/Paper

SP - 363

EP - 372

BT - UbiComp '13: Proceedings of the 2013 ACM international joint conference on Pervasive and ubiquitous computing

PB - ACM

ER -