Study of liquid deposition during laser printing of liquids

Laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT) is a direct-writing technique which can be used to successfully print various complex and sensitive materials with a high degree of spatial resolution. However, the optimization of its performances requires a deep understanding of the LIFT dynamics. Such understanding should allow correlating the phenomena underlying the liquid transfer process with the morphology of the obtained deposits. To this end, in this work it is presented a study related to two aspects: first, the correlation of the morphological characteristics of the transferred droplets with the variation of the film thickness combined with laser fluence; and second, a correlation of the dependences observed with the dynamics of the transfer process. The work is focused on the understanding of the observed dependences for which the information provided by time-resolved analysis on liquid transfer dynamics has proved to be crucial. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.