Abstract
AbstractClassical 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.
Highlights
Since we focus on the problem of ink depletion in the course of successive stamping steps associated with the use of solid elastomeric stamps, we aimed at stamping large ink microdroplets even after 800 stamp–substrate contacts without reinking
Classical microcontact printing with solid elastomeric stamps suffers from ink depletion if several consecutive stamping steps are carried out without reinking
Scanner-based capillary stamping involves the incorporation of porous stamps into automated stamping systems already established for polymer pen lithography
Summary
Conventional microcontact printing suffers from ink depletion in the course of consecutive stamp–substrate contacts; time-consuming interruptions of the printing operations for the readsorption of ink on the outer stamp surfaces are required to avoid deterioration of the quality of the stamped patterns To overcome this drawback, stamps containing spongy continuous pore systems have been investigated because the continuous spongy pore systems enable continuous ink supply to the stamps’ contact surfaces and can be used as ink reservoirs themselves. Using the spongy continuous pore systems of porous SCS composite stamps as ink reservoir, we stamped 800 microdroplets per contact element by 800 successive stamp– substrate contacts under ambient conditions without reinking and without deterioration of the quality of the stamped pattern
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