Joint Development of World's First Ultra-fine Screen Printing Technology

Mitsui Fine Chemicals Inc. (located in Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President: Satoshi Tsuruta) has developed the world's first* ultrafine printing technology using the screen printing method in collaboration with Osaka Chemical Co. (*In-house research)

In recent years, touch panels (capacitive type) have been widely used in smartphones, tablets, notebook PCs, and in-vehicles.

As ICT technology advances, the electrodes used as sensors are required to be narrower in pitch and ultrafine in order to achieve high detection sensitivity.

Therefore, the photo-etching method, which is superior for fine wiring, has been the mainstream for ultrafine printing with line space (L/S) = 50 µm or less, while the screen printing method, which is more cost competitive than the photo-etching method, is limited to the L/S = 50/50 µm level, The use of the screen-etching method has been limited to the L/S=50/50μm level.

Ltd., which sells urethane squeegees, Osaka Chemical Co., Ltd. which manufactures a high-hardness two-layer urethane squeegee with excellent smoothness and film thickness stability, plate manufacturer Murakami Corporation, paste manufacturer Asahi Chemical Laboratory, Inc. a paste manufacturer, and Celia Corporation, a printing machine manufacturer, have jointly developed an ultra-fine printing technology that enables L/S=20/20μm by screen-printing method. This technology can be introduced into existing screen-printing lines, enabling competitive ultrafine printing. The five companies, including Mitsui Chemicals Fine, will start introducing this technology to their customers from the end of FY2020 in order to promote its widespread use, and aim to put it to practical use by the end of FY2021.