Technical application of high-precision thick film printing technology in thermal printing ceramic substrates

Thermal printing is the mainstream printing method on the market today. It generates images or text by heating the print head.With the rapid development of industrial manufacturing and e-commerce logistics, thermal printers have been widely used in various financial receipts, catering and cashier receipts, logistics receipts, barcode labels, etc.
As the core component of a thermal printer, the thermal print head consists of a ceramic substrate, heating element, integrated circuit and protective layer through a specific sintering and installation process.According to different preparation processes, thermal print heads can be divided into thick film products and thin film products (as shown in Figure 1).

Among them, the key technology of the thick film thermal print head is thick film screen printing technology. This technology finely prints the electrode layer→resistance layer→protective layer on the ceramic substrate, and then performs drying and sintering to make the metal paste firm. Deposited on the surface of the ceramic substrate to build an efficient and stable heating structure.Usually, the printing thickness of the heating element is usually between 4-10um.

At present, the thick film process for thermally printed ceramic substrates is relatively mature, but there are still some challenges in the printing process. The main issue is ensuring the consistency of resistance values.If the resistance value is unstable, it will cause uneven heating, which will affect the printing effect of text or graphics.