Large area roll-to-roll manufacturing

Located on the 4th floor in the Life Science Laboratories the Roll-to-Roll Fabrication facility provides a unique set of custom, moving web-based tools for the translation of advanced materials and nanomanufacturing processes to industrially relevant scalable platforms for the development of next generation life science innovations in biosensors, diagnostics, and platforms for personalized health monitoring. Combined with additional web-based tools for vacuum sputter deposition, reactive ion etching, wet chemistry, and interlayer alignment, providing access to an emerging set of tools not found anywhere else. For more information, visit https://www.umass.edu/ials/roll-to-roll-fabrication

Frontier Coater

The Frontier coater is a versatile tool enabling solution-based coatings over a range of viscosity and thicknesses for the development of advanced coatings.

  • Web Width: 6” Max Coating 5.75”
  • Line Speed: 1-30 FPM
  • In-line Contact Web Cleaner with Static Control
  • In-line Plasma/Corona Treater
  • 250ml & 1 Liter Displacer Tubes with micro-metering pump for coating delivery
  • Coating Heads: Precision Slot Die, Reverse Microgravure
  • Drying: 3 Zones
  • 24” IR Dryer Zone 1
  • Air floatation Hot Air Dryers with two 6’ Drying Zones
  • 3 Optical Pyrometers measuring Web temperature
  • UV Cure Station: Xenon RC847 LH 820 Lamp
  • Hot Lamination Station (Max Temp 270°F)
  • Mesys USM200C Coating Thickness Gauge On-line

Nanocoater 100

The Nanocoater is a versatile tool enabling solution-based coatings over a range of viscosity and thicknesses. UMass researchers have further translated emerging nanomanufacturing processes to this tool including block copolymer self assembly templating and additive driven assembly of functional composites

  • Web Width: 6” Max
  • Coating Width: 5.75” Max.
  • Line Speed: 0.008-83 FPM/0.002-25.23 MPM
  • Slot Die Coating Head: Thickness Range 2-600 µms, Wet Solution Viscosity 10-4,000 Cps, Cored Die for Optional Heating to 95°C
  • 2 Micro-Gravure Stations: Thickness Range 1-80 µm, Wet Solution Viscosity 1-200 Cps, Coating Width 120mm/4.72”
  • 2 Radiant Heat Dryers: Max Temperature 250°C (Operating Limit 150°C)
  • Positive Nitrogen Purging
  • 4 Flowmeters Adjust Nitrogen
  • 3 Thermocouples X-Web at both oven entrances and exits monitor Nitrogen temperature
  • 2 In-line Ionizing Anti-static Bars
  • 2 Ultrasonic Sensors/with Steering Rollers for Web Alignment

R2R Nanoimprint Lithography

The R2R NanoImprint tool provides a unique suite of capabilities enabling innovative process development including patterning across multiple length-scales, and direct printing of a range of materials compositions.

  • Next Generation Tool Based on Nano Emboss 100 Platform
  • Adds Thermal Imprint, Solvent Assisted, Soft and Optical Contact Lithography
  • Equipped with NIR Anneal
  • Enables Direct Printing of Metal Oxides

R2R UV-NIL Tool

  • UMass NANOemBOSS R2R-NIL constructed with Carpe Diem Technologies (Franklin, MA)
  • Sub 50 nm features and feet per minute rates.

R2R Inkjet Printer/Gravure Coater with Photonic Cure

This custom R2R tool provides state-of-the-art capability for development of advanced materials and inks for emerging printed electronic applications. The platform includes Xaar inkjet print head arrays combined with Novacentrix Photonic cure and Adphos Near IR drying.

  • Technology: PiezoJet
  • Feature size: 20 µm
  • Droplet size: 6-42 picoliters
  • Nozzles: 1000
  • Near IR Drying: Adphos 126-125
  • Sintering: Novacentric PulseForge 1300

Trion R2R DRIE & IBM System

The Trion Deep Reactive Ion and Ion Beam Etcher provides vacuum-based dry etch capability compatible with several substrates (plastic, glass, metal foil). Multiple gases enable versatile etch chemistries for dielectric, metal, and polymer composites.

  • R2R DRIE/IBM system for 6 inch wide films (plastic / metal foils)
  • Anisotropic etch capability enabling residual layer removal, patterns transfer and surface treatment in R2R process – less than +/- 4% etch uniformity
  • 8000 W Extreme source 13.56MHz RF generator
  • 8 gases (CF4, O2, SF6, He, Ar, CHF3, 2 blank slots)
  • Ion beam Milling (IBM) chamber with 2 linear gridless source – less than +/-2.5% etch uniformity – separate chamber
  • Thickness monitoring mechanism
  • Capability to etch polymers, dielectrics, and thin metal films
  • Interleaf rollers, web handing system and web tension control
  • Automatic and manual tuning options

UMass Slitter/Laminator

This custom built atmospheric slitter/laminator tool enables final sizing, slitting and lamination steps to be completed for prototyping and test. (Planned Acquisition)

  • Material Web Width: 12” Maximum
  • Slitter Speed/Laminator Speed: 20 MPM
  • Interleaf Take-up Roll at Unwind
  • Dual Side Lamination or Slitting Capability
  • Heated Nip Rolls 320°F Max.
  • Rotary Sheer Slitting Blades
  • Dual Differential Rewind Shafts
  • Northfield Automation – Atmospheric Laminator
  • Lamination Widths: 4” -12”
  • Speed Control: Variable and reversible 18 FPM Max.
  • Maximum Laminate Thickness: 0.010”
  • Maximum Substrate Thickness: 0.25”
  • Micro-Adjustable Slitter Blades with infinite slitting widths from 1”-12”

Yasui Seiki Mini-Labo

Yasui Seiki Mini-Labo microgravure tool for coating development on 4” webs.

Besi Datacon 2200 Evo Plus R2R Pick and Place/Bonding Tool for Hybrid Integration

The web-based pick and place/die attach tool provides users with an advanced capability to develop methods for flexible-hybrid electronic circuit integration and system prototyping.

  • Modifed version of standard EVO 2200-Plus
  • X/Y placement accuracy: ± 7 μm @ 3s
  • Theta placement accuracy: ± 0.15° @ 3s
  • Die attach: up to 7,000 UPH/module
  • Flip chip

AJA R2R Sputtering System

The AJA sputter deposition tool provides industry standard vacuum deposition capability for a range of metals, dielectrics, and magnetic materials. In situ plasma cleaning combined with both RF ad DC pulsed magnetron source provide for state-of-the-art physical vapor deposition.

  • R2R deposition on 6 inch wide films
  • Capability to deposit metals, oxides, dielectrics and magnetic materials
  • 4 Magnetron sputtering sources including one for magnetic materials
  • 2000 W RF gen and 5 kW variable frequency (5-350 kHz) pulsed DC generator with dual output option
  • Plasma cleaning system before deposition
  • Shadow mask option for two targets
  • Quartz crystal thickness monitoring for all sources
  • Bidirectional motorized rollers with web tensioning and interleaf rollers
  • Water cooled rollers to minimize substrate heating
  • Targets in different size – smaller size for very expensive metals