Compared to other patterning techniques, inkjet printing provides a very versatile and low cost microfabrication capability that has attracted significant research and industrial interest. Inkjet technology can be used to pattern a variety of liquids including polymers, proteins, and various solvents. This technique is used for non-contact patterning onto rigid, flexible, rough, smooth, and 3-D substrates. This process is accurate, high resolution, high speed, and consumes very little material as compared to a lithographic process.

This Microdrop System has the following spcifications:

20 cm x 20 cm horizontal travel
8 cm vertical travel
5 um horizontal and 10 um vertical placement accuracy
1 um horizontal and 5 um vertical repetition accuracy
0.5 m/s^2 maximum acceleration
100mm/s maximum speed

Materials and Solvents

Materials (solvents) printed using this system must have a boiling point in excess of 100°C in order to avoid cavitation bubbles which prevent stable dispensing. The fluid makes direct contact with the following materials: glass, PTFE and PEEK. It is possible to use the solvents listed below, but never HF (it will destroy the glass) and not high concentrated base like NaOH (after a while it will change the surface of the glass).

acetophenone,
anisole,
benzylalcohol,
butylacetate,
cyclohexanol
diethylene glycol,
1,4-dioxane,
DMA,
DMF,
DMSO,
n-dodecane
ethylbenzene,
ethylene glycol,
hexylbenzene,
hexyliodide,
methyl-benzoate,
N-methyl-pyrrolidone,
1-octanol
1,3-propanediol
propylene carbonate
toluene
Water
p-xylene