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Published on: November 9, 2015
High-Throughput Large-Area Roll-to-Stamp-to-Plate Transfer Printing
JeongHwan Yun1, Seungbeom Kim1, Jeyun Lee1
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang 37673, Republic of Korea.
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Transfer printing has emerged as an important technique for heterogeneous integration of micro/nanomaterials in next-generation electronics. Despite its versatility, scaling this technique to large-area applications remains challenging. To address this, roller-based methods have been introduced as a promising approach due to their continuous contact with the substrate and thus the potential for high scalability. However, existing roller-based systems lack effective adhesion switching mechanisms, which significantly limit their applicability to nonadhesive or rigid substrates and constrain their versatility. Here, we introduce a roll-to-stamp-to-plate (R2S2P) system that enables high-throughput, large-area transfer printing with high adhesion switchability across diverse substrates. The system adopts a multilayer configuration consisting of a compliant elastomer, a microstructured stamp, and a thin antistretch layer, which achieves dynamic adhesion control through springback-driven detachment and the reversible collapse of microstructures. Through combined mechanical experiments and finite element analysis, we identify an optimized microstructured stamp design that achieves a balance between strong adhesion for reliable pick-up and minimal adhesion for gentle release. High-speed imaging analysis further reveals the critical role of detachment dynamics in ensuring successful transfer printing. Leveraging these optimized conditions, the system achieves a rapid retrieval rate of 0.34 s/cm2 over a centimeter-scale area (1 cm2). Finally, we demonstrate the versatility and robustness of the R2S2P system by transferring not only Si platelet arrays of various sizes, shapes, and complex geometries but also unconventional material pieces onto nonadhesive substrates. This work establishes the R2S2P platform as a scalable and versatile solution for large-area heterogeneous integration, paving the way for future applications in optoelectronics, large-area sensor arrays, and other advanced integrated devices.

