Precision design and control of a flexure-based roll-to-roll printing system

•A flexure-based R2R system achieving 100 nm positioning precision in all critical axes.•Developed parametric models for the R2R system and experimentally validated the accuracy.•Decoupling, PID, and cascade controllers were implemented on the R2R system.•Microcontact printing is adapted to the new R2R platform realizing nanometer level continuous printing.

This paper presents the design, characterization, and control of a flexure-based roll-to-roll (R2R) printing system that achieves nanometer level precision and repeatability. The R2R system includes an unwinding/rewinding module, a web guide mechanism, and a core positioning stage consisting of two monolithic compliant X–Y stages that control the position/force of the print roller. During the printing process, capacitance probes, eddy current sensors and load cells are used to monitor the displacements of the flexure stage and contact force in real time. Control strategies, including decoupling, PID, and cascade control, have been implemented to decouple the cross-axis and cross-stage motion coupling effect and improve the overall precision and dynamic performance. In actual printing processes, the contact force and roller position can be uniformly controlled within ±0.05 N and ±200 nm respectively across a 4 in. wide PET web. To demonstrate the performance, a positive microcontact printing (MCP) process is adapted to the R2R system, printing various fine metal patterns, e.g., optical gratings and electrodes, in a continuous fashion.