Electrophotography is a dry printing technique invented by Chester Carlson in 1938. The idea was acknowledged in 1947 by Xerox, formerly known as The Haloid Photographic Company. Electrophotography is the most popular digital printing technology used in the packaging industry. These industries use this method to enhance the quality of the content printed on packaged goods. The food and retail industries are the two major end-users in this market.

MPS is a service offered by a third-party provider to optimize and manage an organization's document environment. MPS manages an organization's objectives such as reducing cost, improving the prolific imaging and printing environment, and improving efficiency and productivity.

Scientific and technical publications are distributed in the form of books, journals, online services, and e-books. These are used by students, and professionals for academic and research purposes, and by corporates. The global scientific and technical publication market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 1.09% during the forecast period. In 2014, the US and EU accounted for 72% of the global market, which was a decrease from 84% in 2011.

3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing (AM), involves making a 3D model based on digital data by printing out that model, layer by layer, using 3D printing material. It helps industries to manufacture customized products on a mass scale without incurring extra costs and negative environmental impacts. 3D printing technology has shifted from being used exclusively for prototyping purposes to being used widely in conventional product manufacturing in industries ranging from aerospace to consumer products. Currently, many businesses are adopting 3D printing technology to increase accuracy, optimize the use of raw materials, and customize manufacturing.

In this dissertation, I propose an alternative approach of a printed switch, where the use of semiconductors can be avoided by building mechanical switches with printed metal nanoparticles. I provide the first demonstration of inkjet-printed micro-electro-mechanical (MEM) switches with abrupt switching characteristics, very low on-state resistance (~10 Ohm), and nearly perfect off-state behavior with immeasurable leakage with on/off current ratio of 107. The devices are fabricated using a novel process scheme to build 3-dimensional cantilever structures from solution-processed metallic nanoparticles and sacrificial polymers. These printed MEM switches thus represent a uniquely attractive path for realizing printed electronics. I will also discuss an inkjet-printed microshell encapsulation as a new zero-level packaging technology. Inkjet-printing of silver nanoparticle ink is demonstrated to form porous microshells through which sacrificial oxide can be selectively removed to release MEMS structures. A second inkjet printing process using finer gold nanoparticle ink or polymer is demonstrated to effectively seal the microshells.