Kit and system for laser-induced material dispensing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10144034-B2
Application number	US-201715648980-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 13, 2017
Priority date	Jul 17, 2016
Publication date	Dec 4, 2018
Grant date	Dec 4, 2018

Abstract

A laser-induced dispensing system for material processing is disclosed. The laser-induced dispensing system includes a fiber bundle having optical fibers. The optical fibers have first ends arranged at the first interface and second ends arranged at the second interface. Additionally, optics that direct laser beams transmitted from the second interface by the optical fibers toward a material to be deposited a substrate is provided. The optics is configured to focus the laser beams on the material to be deposited, thereby causing the material to be deposited to be released onto the substrate. Each of the optical fibers having a first end that is adjacent to a first end of another of the optical fibers at the first interface have a second end that is non-adjacent to a second end of the another of the optical fibers at the second interface.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A laser-induced dispensing system for material processing, the laser-induced dispensing system comprising:
a fiber bundle having optical fibers configured to receive laser beams from a laser source at a first interface of the fiber bundle and transmit the laser beams from a second interface of the fiber bundle, the optical fibers have first ends arranged at the first interface and second ends arranged at the second interface;
optics configured to direct the laser beams transmitted from the second interface by the optical fibers toward a material to be deposited on a substrate, wherein the optics are configured to focus the laser beams on the material to be deposited, thereby causing the material to be deposited to be released onto the substrate, and
wherein each of the optical fibers is arranged such that all of the optical fibers having a first end that is adjacent to a first end of another of the optical fibers at the first interface has a second end that is non-adjacent to a second end of the another of the optical fibers at the second interface.

2. The laser-induced dispensing system according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a print head including the optics; and wherein
the laser source is an external laser source provided external to the print head.

3. The laser-induced dispensing system according to claim 1 , wherein the first ends of the optical fibers are arranged at the first interface in a polygonal configuration, and wherein the second ends of the optical fibers are arranged at the second interface in a polygonal configuration.

4. The laser-induced dispensing system according to claim 1 , wherein
the first ends of the optical fibers are arranged at the first interface in one of a circular, elliptical and oval configuration, and wherein the second ends of the optical fibers are arranged at the second interface in a polygonal configuration.

5. The laser-induced dispensing system according to claim 4 , further comprising:
a beam scanning system configured to scan the laser beams from the laser source so as to selectively couple laser beams outputted from the laser source onto a lens element of an external lens array, which couples the outputted laser beams into respective optical fibers by transmitting the outputted laser beams into the first ends of the optical fibers at the first interface.

6. The laser-induced dispensing system according to claim 5 , wherein the beam scanning system comprises:
a motor;
a shaft connected to the motor; and
an upstream reflecting mirror mounted at an end of the shaft so as to be oriented at angle with respect to a rotational axis of the shaft, wherein the shaft is configured to rotate so as to rotate the reflecting mirror, thereby sequentially focusing the outputted laser beams into the first ends of the optical fibers at the first interface.

7. The laser-induced dispensing system according to claim 6 , further comprising:
the second ends of the optical fibers at the second interface being connected to a corresponding array of optical nozzles, which generate respective laser beam focal spots that are configured to be focused on the material to be deposited, and
wherein each of the optical nozzles includes a respective downstream focusing element configured to focus respective laser beams transmitted from the second ends of the optical fibers at the second interface.

8. The laser-induced dispensing system according to claim 7 , further comprising:
a print head including the array of optical nozzles and an optical coupler that couples the laser beam transmitted from the second interface; and
wherein the laser source is an external laser source provided external to the print head.

9. The laser-induced dispensing system according to claim 8 , wherein the external laser is a pulse-laser.

10. The laser-induced dispensing system according to claim 7 , wherein the print head is defined by a plurality of separate print heads having a respective array of optical nozzles.

11. The laser-induced dispensing system according to claim 5 , wherein the motor is rotated at a constant speed.

12. The laser-induced dispensing system according to claim 5 , further comprising:
the second ends of the optical fibers at the second interface being connected to a corresponding array of optical nozzles, which generate respective laser beam focal spots that are configured to be focused on the material to be deposited.

13. The laser-induced dispensing system according to claim 12 , wherein each of the optical nozzles includes a respective downstream focusing element configured to focus respective laser beams transmitted from the second ends of the optical fibers at the second interface.

14. The laser-induced dispensing system according to claim 12 , wherein the array of optical nozzles are configured such that successive emitted laser beams are emitted from non-adjacent ones of the array of optical nozzles as the outputted laser beams are coupled into the first ends of the optical fibers at the first interface.

15. The laser-induced dispensing system according to claim 5 , wherein the beam scanning system has an angular velocity (ω) that satisfies the equation:

ω
=

D
·
f

R

,

where D is a diameter of each of the optical fibers; where R is a radius of the fiber bundle; and f is a laser frequency of the laser beams.

16. The laser-induced dispensing system according to claim 1 , wherein the optical fibers are multi-mode optical fibers.

17. The laser-induced dispensing system according to claim 16 , wherein each of the optical fibers have a core diameter of at least 25 μm and a cladding diameter of at least 65 μm.

18. A method of dispensing a donor material on a receiver substrate, the method comprising:
outputting laser beams from a laser source;
providing a fiber bundle having optical fibers that receive the laser beams at a first interface of the fiber bundle and transmit the laser beams from a second interface of the fiber bundle, arranging first ends of the optical fibers at the first interface and arranging second ends of the optical fibers at the second interface;
arranging each of the optical fibers such that all of the optical fibers having a first end that is adjacent to a first end of another of the optical fibers at the first interface has a second end that is non-adjacent to a second end of the another of the optical fibers at the second interface; and
providing optics that direct the laser beams transmitted from the second interface by the optical fibers toward a donor material to be deposited on a received substrate,
the optics focusing the laser beams on the donor material, thereby causing droplets of the donor material to be released and deposited onto the receiver substrate.

19. The method according to claim 18 , further comprising focusing the laser beams on the donor material at a predetermined intensity such that an energy absorbed by the donor material from the focused laser beams causes the droplets of the donor material to be released.

20. The method according to claim 18 , wherein each of successive droplets of the donor material are released in a non-adjacent order.

21. The method acc

Assignees

• Io Tech Group Ltd

Inventors

• Zenou Michael

Classifications

• G02B6/0288

  Multimode fibre, e.g. graded index core for compensating modal dispersion · CPC title

• G02B6/3512

  the optical element being reflective, e.g. mirror · CPC title

• B41J2/48 Primary

  melting ink on a film or melting ink granules · CPC title

• G02B6/3548

  1xN switch, i.e. one input and a selectable single output of N possible outputs · CPC title

• G02B6/4206

  Optical features (G02B6/4207, G02B6/421 take precedence) · CPC title