THE NEWS IN PRINT

World’s latest super device is about to hit a new mark. A specially made inkjet printer can print with a minimum diameter of 250 nanometers. A normal inkjet printer prints with a minimum dot size of 25 micrometers. E-jet is the latest nano manufacturing inkjet printer which has a potential to turn the tables over other nano manufacturing devices.

E-jets have the capability of squirting any material out of the cartridge which rapidly synthesizes complex nanoscale structures. Different products like plastic electronics, flexible displays, photo voltaic cells, bio-medical cells and much more can be manufactured through this special printer. Other applications include printing precise patterns of electrically conducting polymers, carbon nanotubes and DNA structure.

The technology behind e-jets is a little complex. Conventional inkjet printers print by pushing the ink out of the cartridge using heat or physical pressure. Same technology cannot be used for printing nano dots as the force needed to squirt out such tiny dots is tremendous.

E-jets don’t push the ink, instead pull it. Pulling is possible by placing electrically charged particles within the ink. Creating an opposite charge on the medium pulls the ink out of the hole.

While this printer is still in its inception stage, researchers have found that the printing speed is extremely slow. Their work is cut-out to find a way to fasten the nano printing process. Many of them might have sleepless nights in days to come. As for me, every day I wake after a good night’s sleep, I find a new use for an inkjet printer. Aren’t they amazing?

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 13th, 2007 at 4:58 pm and is filed under Innovation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.