High-Precision Overlay Registration via Spatial-Terminal Iterative Learning in Roll-to-Roll Manufacturing

Abstract: Roll-to-roll (R2R) printing technologies are promising for high-volume continuous production of substrate-based electronic products. One of the major challenges in R2R flexible electronics printing is achieving tight alignment tolerances, as specified by the device resolution (usually at the micro-meter level), for multi-layer printed electronics. The alignment of the printed patterns in different layers is known as registration. Conventional registration control methods rely on real-time feedback controllers, such as PID control, to regulate the web tension and the web speed. However, those methods may lose effectiveness in compensating for recurring disturbances and supporting effective mitigation of registration errors. In this paper, we propose a Spatial-Terminal Iterative Learning Control (STILC) method integrated with PID control to iteratively learn and reduce registration error cycle-by-cycle, converging it to zero. This approach enables unprecedented precision in the creation, integration, and manipulation of multi-layer microstructures in R2R processes. We theoretically prove the convergence of the proposed STILC-PID hybrid approach and validate its effectiveness through a simulated registration error scenario caused by axis mismatch between roller and motor, a common issue in R2R systems. The results demonstrate that the STILC-PID hybrid control method can fully eliminate the registration error after a feasible number of iterations. Additionally, we analyze the impact of different learning gains on the convergence performance of STILC.