Scanner‐Based Capillary Stamping

Abstract

Classical microcontact printing and polymer pen lithography (PPL) involve ink transfer to substrates using solid elastomeric stamps. Ink depletion thus limits the number of successive stamping steps without reinking. Porous stamps developed to overcome this limitation are used only for manual proof‐of‐principle experiments. Here, porous composite stamps for scanner‐based capillary stamping (SCS) that can be mounted on automated printing devices designed for PPL are developed. Porous SCS composite stamps consist of a rigid controlled porous silica glass (CPG) layer and a porous polymeric stamping layer. The latter can be topographically structured with contact elements by replication molding. The mechanical stabilization by the CPG layer ensures that the contact elements are coplanar. SCS allows automated, continuous, high‐throughput patterning enabled by ink supply through the porous SCS composite stamps. Even after more than 800 consecutive stamp–substrate contacts without reinking (the porous SCS composite stamps themselves are used as ink reservoirs), ink microdroplets are deposited without deterioration of the pattern quality. However, SCS also allows supply of additional ink during ongoing stamping operations through the pore systems of the porous SCS composite stamps. SCS can easily be adapted for multi‐ink patterning and may pave the way for further upscaling of contact lithography.

Thin Patterned Lithium Niobate Films by Parallel Additive Capillary Stamping of Aqueous Precursor Solutions

“…To stamp the aqueous LiNbO 3 precursor solution, we used porous stamps [ 15 ] with a pore diameter of ≈50 nm consisting of the block copolymer polystyrene‐ block ‐poly(2‐vinylpyridine) (PS‐ b ‐P2VP). Porous polymer stamps are compatible with automated stamping devices designed for polymer pen lithography, [ 16 ] allow storage and replenishment with ink anytime during stamping and enable, therefore, efficient additive surface manufacturing. The porous PS‐ b ‐P2VP stamps had topographically patterned contact surfaces containing indentations arranged in hexagonal arrays with a lattice constant of ≈1.5 μm.…”

“Writing biochips”: high-resolution droplet-to-droplet manufacturing of analytical platforms

“…To this aim, the same group anticipated this ideal technological integration showing a method which they defined as scanner-based capillary stamping, in which the depletion-free printing process of capillary stamping is combined with the automation features of a PPL printing device. 123 In this regard, stamps are made from the PS- b -P2VP block copolymer which is attached to nondeformable controlled porous glass to increase mechanical stability. Then, soaking into hot ethanol allows swelling of the polymer stamp.…”

Phenolic Resin Dual-Use Stamps for Capillary Stamping and Decal Transfer Printing

“…In particular, contact lithography with micropatterned stamps has been explored as parallel additive substrate manufacturing technique to produce components with tailored properties for electronics, optics, heat management, biomedical analytics, sensing, and many more applications. A first relevant embodiment of parallel additive contact lithography includes the transfer of ink from a stamp to a substrate by classical microcontact printing − and polymer pen lithography − using solid elastomeric stamps as well as by capillary stamping using porous homopolymer, block copolymer, − and silica , stamps. A second embodiment of parallel additive contact lithography is decal transfer microlithography, where parts of a stamp are lithographically transferred to a substrate. − The stamps are pressed against the substrate so that the stamps’ contact elements form tight contact with the substrates.…”