Systems and methods for 3D printing with vacuum assisted laser printing machine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12109754-B2
Application number	US-202318505675-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 9, 2023
Priority date	Aug 5, 2020
Publication date	Oct 8, 2024
Grant date	Oct 8, 2024

Abstract

Systems and methods in which a material or materials (e.g., a viscous material) are printed or otherwise transferred onto an intermediate substrate at a printing unit(s). The intermediate substrate having an image of material printed thereon is subsequently transferred to a sample building unit, and the image of material is transferred from the intermediate substrate to a sample at the sample building unit. Optionally, the printing unit(s) includes a coating system that creates a uniform layer of the material on a donor substrate, and the material is transferred from the donor substrate onto the intermediate substrate at the printing unit(s). Each of the printing units may employ a variety of printing or other transfer technologies. The system may also include material curing, heating, sintering, ablating, material filling, imaging and cleaning units to aid in the overall process.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
a printing unit configured to print an image of a material on an intermediate substrate;
a sample building unit configured to receive the intermediate substrate having the image of the material printed thereon and to transfer the image from the intermediate substrate to a sample located in a vacuum chamber of the sample building unit; and
a heater configured to dry portions of the image of the material printed on the intermediate substrate during movement of the intermediate substrate having the image of the material printed thereon from the printing unit to the sample building unit.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the printing unit includes a coating system configured to create a uniform layer of the material on a donor substrate, and the printing unit is further configured to transfer the image of the material from the donor substrate onto the intermediate substrate.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the coating system includes a syringe of the material and an air or mechanical pump arranged to drive the material from the syringe onto the donor substrate, and the coating system is further configured to transport the donor substrate with the material thereon towards and through a well-defined gap between rollers or knifes to create a uniform layer of the material on the donor substrate, the uniform layer of the material having a thickness that is defined by the well-defined gap.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the coating system includes a screen-printing module configured to coat a screen or stencil of film having well defined a plurality of holes with the material, and the coating system is further configured to transfer the material to the intermediate substrate from the screen or stencil of film using a blade or a squeegee.

5. The system of claim 2 , wherein the coating system is one of: a dispenser or an inkjet head configured to print the material onto the donor substrate, a gravure or micro-gravure system configured to coat the donor substrate with the uniform layer of material, a slot-die system configured to coat the donor substrate with the uniform layer of the material, or a roller coating system configured to coat the donor substrate with the uniform layer of the material.

6. The system of claim 2 , where the material is one of: a highly viscous material, a solder paste or other metal paste used for printed electronics, a metal paste, a ceramic paste, a wax material, a polymer material or a mix of a polymer and a monomer material, a low viscosity material, a material that can be cured by heating, or a material that can be dried.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the printing unit comprises a laser-based system that includes a high frequency laser configured to jet the image of the material from a respective donor substrate to the intermediate substrate.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the printing unit is a laser assisted deposition system or a laser dispensing system rotated by 0-90 degrees or 90-180 degrees from a main axis of a gravitational field within which the printing unit is located.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the printing unit is one of an inkjet head system, a dispenser head system, an offset printer module, or a gravure printing module, and wherein the printing unit is configured to print dot-like portions of the material directly to the intermediate substrate.

10. The system of claim 2 , wherein the printing unit is configured to maintain a well-defined gap between the donor substrate and the intermediate substrate.

11. The system of claim 2 , wherein the intermediate substrate is a continuous film substrate and the system includes rollers arranged to deliver the image of the material printed on the intermediate substrate from the printing unit to the sample building unit.

12. The system of claim 2 , wherein the intermediate substrate is a transparent solid substrate and the system includes a robotic arm configured to deliver the image of the material printed on the intermediate substrate from the printing unit to the sample building unit.

13. The system of claim 1 , further comprising an imaging system arranged to measure the image of the material printed on the intermediate substrate during movement of the intermediate substrate from the printing unit to the sample building unit.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the imaging system is configured to measure the image in two or three dimensions and to transfer data gathered by said measuring to a cleaning unit for cleaning the intermediate substrate in case of a defect in the image of the material or to other additional units for further processing of the image of the material before transfer of the image of the material to the sample in the sample building unit.

15. The system of claim 2 , further comprising a sintering and/or an ablation unit configured to further process the image of the material printed on the intermediate substrate.

16. The system of claim 2 , further comprising a material filling unit configured to fill a molded cured layer with a non-curable or slow curing material.

17. A method, comprising:
printing by a printing unit an image of a material onto an intermediate substrate;
transferring the image of the material printed on the intermediate substrate to a sample located in a vacuum chamber of a sample building unit configured to receive the intermediate substrate having the image of material printed thereon; and
while the intermediate substrate having the image printed thereon is being transferred from the printing unit to the sample building unit, drying by a heater portions of the image of the material printed on the intermediate substrate.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein printing the material onto the intermediate substrate comprises:
creating by a coating system of the printing unit a uniform layer of the material on a donor substrate; and
transferring portions of the uniform layer of the material from the donor substrate onto the intermediate substrate.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein printing the material onto the intermediate substrate comprises:
driving the material from a syringe of a coating system of the printing unit onto a donor substrate;
transporting the donor substrate with the material thereon towards and through a well-defined gap between rollers or knifes to create a uniform layer of the material on the donor substrate, the uniform layer of the material having a thickness that is defined by the well-defined gap; and
transferring portions of the uniform layer of the material from the donor substrate onto the intermediate substrate.

20. The method of claim 17 , wherein printing the material onto the intermediate substrate comprises:
coating, by a screen-printing module of a coating system of the printing unit, a screen or stencil of film having a plurality of holes with the material; and
transferring the material from the screen or stencil of film to the intermediate substrate using a blade or a squeegee.

Assignees

• Io Tech Group Ltd

Inventors

• Zenou Michael
• Gilan Ziv
• Nesher Guy

Classifications

• B29C64/147

  using sheet material, e.g. laminated object manufacturing [LOM] or laminating sheet material precut to local cross sections of the 3D object · CPC title

• B29L2031/3425

  Printed circuits · CPC title

• B33Y40/20

  Post-treatment, e.g. curing, coating or polishing · CPC title

• B29C64/268

  using laser beams; using electron beams [EB] · CPC title

• B29C64/35

  Cleaning · CPC title