Hummink NAZCA High Precision Capillary Printer
Sub-micron printing for research and prototyping
NAZCA is Hummink’s printer for High Precision Capillary Printing (HPCaP). A glass or quartz pipette filled with ink oscillates on a resonator above the substrate. When the ink meniscus touches the surface, the change in resonance tells the system it has made contact, and capillary force draws the ink out as the stage moves. Nothing is ejected or sprayed, so there are no satellite drops, and the same tool prints inks from a few hundred cP up to 100,000 cP.
It’s used in research and development, prototyping and small-volume work across printed electronics and sensors, display and semiconductor repair, photonics, MEMS and quantum dot deposition.
What it prints
Lines, dots, gratings, bumps and pillars, from about 75 µm down to 500 nm wide. Line width is roughly 1.2 to 1.6 times the pipette tip, depending on the ink and the surface. Silver bumps and pillars build up in a single step, and Hummink has printed silver pillars with an aspect ratio of 1:8. You draw the pattern in Hummink’s COLIBRICK software or import it as an SVG or DXF file.
Inks and substrates
Hummink makes silver inks for 2D lines and for 3D bumps and pillars, a gold ink for lines and a polymer ink. NAZCA also prints other inks up to 100,000 cP, including PVP, polymer, UV resist and quantum dot inks. Substrates range from silicon wafers and glass to flexible films, up to 25 cm across. Silver and gold lines are sintered at 200 to 220°C after printing.
Watching and measuring the print
A high-magnification camera shows the print as it happens, and calibration is automatic. The optional AFM characterisation module measures the roughness and topography of what you’ve printed from within the NAZCA software, using an empty pipette or a 200 nm scanning probe. An optional fan filter unit keeps the print area clean, and the CentrifugINK system fills pipettes quickly, including with viscous inks.
Specifications
- Line width: 500 nm to 75 µm, set by the pipette
- Printing resolution: 600 nm to 50 µm
- XY positioning precision: 100 nm
- Z-fine positioning precision: 5 nm
- XY travel: 160 x 160 mm
- Maximum substrate: 25 cm
- Printing speed: up to 10 mm/s; table speed up to 350 mm/s
- Ink viscosity: 0 to 100,000 cP
- Pipettes: fused quartz 300 nm to 700 nm, borosilicate glass 1.5 µm to 50 µm, boxes of 9
- Camera: 1024p, 10 fps
- Software: COLIBRICK, Windows, SVG and DXF import
- Size and weight: 700 x 600 x 600 mm (h x w x d), under 100 kg
- Power: 110 to 240 V
- Included: anti-vibration table (air pump)
- Options: CentrifugINK pipette filler, AFM characterisation, fan filter unit
Buying NAZCA through SiSTEM
SiSTEM supplies NAZCA in the UK, Ireland, the Nordic countries, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and we’ve supplied printers to the University of Southampton and to DTU in Denmark. Installation and training are arranged with Hummink’s engineers, and we supply inks and pipettes afterwards.
Before you commit, we can arrange a demonstration and sample prints of your own design on your own substrate. Contact us or get a quote.
