MAP (Multiplexed Array Printing)
Multiplexed Array Printing (MAP) is designed to deposit many liquids in parallel to increase throughput for applications that require a large number of different samples to be present, for example in biological microarrays or security printing.
Traditional material deposition techniques can be limited in throughput and array density, while conventional inkjet technologies typically don't offer multi-liquid parallelism. Inkski's MAP technology overcomes these limitations and offers a new approach for applications that require the deposition of many different liquids in parallel.
Characteristics of MAP:
- Parallel fluid handling: >1000 separate liquids can be deposited simultaneously and new fluid sets loaded quickly
- Flexible fluid formulations: e.g. fluorescent inks, DNA, proteins, microbeads
- High precision: placement accuracy to <10um
- Wide range of deposited spot volumes: 10pL - 1nL
Also suitable for thin layer deposition of 2D areas (e.g. lines, rectangles, annuli).
MAP promises to provide cost reduction and throughput acceleration in biological and security printing applications.
LILO (Light Initiated Liquid Offset)
LILO is Inkski's original technology targeting graphics printing applications.
Ink drops can be formed in a regular array on the surface of a rapidly spinning cylinder. This allows new drops to arrive close to the substrate at a rate of hundreds of thousands of drops per second for each channel, much faster than new drops can formed in a fixed nozzle. When drops arrive at the substrate they can then be selectively ejected, in theory allowing digital printheads to be made that can output more than a billion drops per second.
A spinning cylinder also imparts a high velocity to the drops, giving them the momentum to travel reliably from the cylinder to the substrate without the need for excessive acceleration. A photonic trigger is used to eject drops from the cylinder surface, giving the technology its name, Light Initiated Liquid Offset.
LILO has demonstrated the necessary physical processes for digital printing:
- Drop forming
- Ink recirculation
- Selective drop ejection
The development of LILO continues aimed at increasing the efficiency of the actuator mechanism which is currently a barrier to commercial exploitation.
