Simulating Surface Height and Roughness
of Ink Jetted Conductors
The Computational Approach
56.gif "drop_sim_flow(a).gif")
Input - the input data consists of a bitmap representing the placement of droplets. A
nominal droplet diameter is assigned. A nominal “volume” for each droplet is assigned.
Subdivide Droplet - each droplet is divided into subpixels. The number of subpixels used can be
controlled by the user. Generally there is a tradeoff between accuracy and
computation time.
Create a droplet thickness function - this function is used to define the thickness of the droplet at any point on
its surface. Note that the volume of the droplet must equal to the total volume
of dispensed liquid. We may need two separate functions -- one for a wet droplet and one for dry
droplet where the solvent has evaporated.
Define a Flow Function - this function is used to describe how the fluid in the droplet flows after it
reaches the substrate. The flow must be applied to overlapping and adjacent
droplets in an iterative fashion until flow ends. The final solution must
preserve the volume of the applied fluid. Again, one may need two functions --
one for interaction between wet droplets and another for interaction between a
wet droplet and the underlying surface consisting of dried droplets.