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Thread: “etching” transparent conductor on transparent plastic film or glass?

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    Default “etching” transparent conductor on transparent plastic film or glass?

    I've put the word etching in quotations as the method to get conductive tracks on a glass or plastic film might not involve a subtractive approach as with traditional PCBs of applying a conductive layer (such as ITO in this case) and then removing the unneeded part, but rather an additive approach such as printing or drawing the tracks on a transfer medium sheet and somehow transferring it to the glass or plastic (such as PET) film, etc. later, or printing/drawing directly on the glass or plastic film somehow.

    Need two transparent conductors in an arrangment like this on a transparent plastic film. Such as ITO on PET. But it doesn't have to be ITO necessarily.



    Of course for others it can be anything else.
    The thing is there are too many tracks and their size and their gaps are going to be sub milimeter, so hand drawing is out of the question. AdaFruit has a video on using conductive ink but they draw it by hand.

    What can/should one use for the transparent conductive "ink" and the film and what should one use to get their drawing from a digital file onto real film/glass?
    Perhaps a modified laserjet or inkjet printer, or a modified mini CNC?

    I'll probably need to run dozens or maybe hundreds of tests with different widths, gaps and arrangments, so can't really afford to pay a company to do this. Besides, for many DIY is a reason in and of itself.

    (Will be running few milliamps and about 8 VDC. Size of the whole film is going to be 10 cm x 5 cm max, playing with liquid crystals)

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    ... you can search for transparent conductive ink and try with ink-jetting.

    Another methode would be cutting the two structures out from transparent conductive sheets and laminating them on the base.

    Or create/3D-print cavities in plastic and fill them with electrolyte ...

    Viktor

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    I cant find a transparent conductive ink which claims to work with an inkjet printer. There are even pens with a conductive ink on ebay but not transparent..

    Second method would cut light transmission from 85% to 72.25 and I believe produce visible ridges, as the 3rd idea.
    Last edited by Yerkat; 01-03-2018 at 02:34.

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    ... all other methods will need proffessional skills and/or comercial tools and ressources.

    There are some companies, printing transparent conductive tracks on car windows.

    Some years ago I was developing and microassembling sensors with super thin platinum wires with diameters of 10 microns and 1 micron -- the 1 micron wire is not really feasible for such long structures ... but the 10 micron wire would be pretty "invisble", when feeded and fixed along the paths.

    Platinum wires are pretty expensive, so you could try with "normal" bonding wires, what's sligtly thicker (between 20 to 70 microns), but much cheaper and better available ...

    Viktor

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    As long as there is a transparent conductive ink that claims it works with inkjet feeders it should work with cheap inkjet printers.
    As for etching, a regular slide projector or modified DLP projector should work, the same way as they are used for 3d stereolitography 3d printing. The question in this case is what materials to use, not what tools. https://electronics.stackexchange.co...-film-or-glass

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    i read your other post tin oxide is a good suggestion. You are making something like a grating. Photolithography is the best way. I have no idea how to mask and etch indium tin with a mask. You have to find a photoresist for the hcl. Sounds interesting. What’s it for?
    Last edited by kecked; 12-30-2017 at 18:58.

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    PDLC shutter using finger electrodes for faster switch speeds.
    http://photonlexicon.com/forums/show...e-switch-speed
    https://www.researchgate.net/publica...ted_addressing

    Inkjet printing is a lot easier and faster than working with HCL and eching. Im also not sure what photoresist will work either.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Yerkat View Post
    PDLC shutter using finger electrodes for faster switch speeds.
    http://photonlexicon.com/forums/show...e-switch-speed
    https://www.researchgate.net/publica...ted_addressing

    Inkjet printing is a lot easier and faster than working with HCL and eching. Im also not sure what photoresist will work either.
    https://www.physicsforums.com/thread...lasses.935103/

    think this all points back back to the same paper but at least you have others than here that might know more.

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    I wonder if you could coat the glass in ito or put a sheet covered in it on the glass and the ablate it off with a laser cutter. If it is thin enough this might work. For larger spacing maybe use a mill and then coat the removed glass with a clear coat to reclear the milky milled area.

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    With glass possible, PET film probably not.

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