Printed Electronics
SonoPlot's Microplotter systems are ideally suited for research, development, and rapid prototyping of printed electronic.
The Microplotters patented printing technology enables printing of novel nanomaterials that other systems struggle with, such as:
Nanoparticle inks
Carbon nanotubes
Graphene
Polymers
Resists
In particular, the high-precision positioning stages have been designed to service the needs of printing a wide range of materials and rapidly iterate on designs. Despite the fine features that this system can draw, it has a compact form factor and an affordable price.
The dispensing mechanism used within the Microplotter systems is significantly different from existing inkjet technology. Rather than eject droplets over a distance to a surface, a Microplotter (as its name would suggest) acts more like a direct write plotter, directly dispensing droplets or true continuous features. This dispensing is driven by the patented ultrasonic pumping action at the core of the Microplotter.
This different printing mode allows the Microplotters to work with a much wider variety of fluids than inkjets can. High-viscosity solutions can be dispensed (with viscosities up to 450 centipoise), as well as ones that would normally present clogging problems to inkjets, like saturated salt solutions, high-solids-content suspensions, or certain carbon nanotube solutions. Very little ink tuning is required to print using a Microplotter, in contrast to the refinement often required when dealing with an inkjet.
True continuous features can also be printed using a Microplotter. Lines are drawn as a single feature with smooth edges, as opposed to lumpy elements created by overlapping droplets. These lines, arcs, or other traces can be drawn with line widths as narrow as 5 microns.