Apparatus for deposition and inspection of chemical and biological fluids
First Claim
1. An apparatus for producing and inspecting a plurality of features in a pattern on a surface of a substrate, comprising:
- a printhead that deposits a fluid to form a plurality of features in a pattern on a first portion of a substrate surface, leaving a second intervening portion of the substrate surface nominally featureless;
an image acquisition system that images the substrate surface, said image acquisition system comprising;
a camera and a camera controller that positions and activates said camera to image in a two-dimensional manner by moving the camera across said first portion in a perpendicular direction with respect to a line of said features to acquire images corresponding to said first portion and less than all of said second portion; and
a printhead controller that positions the printhead relative to the substrate surface and activates the printhead to sequentially deposit the plurality of features in the pattern.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus and method are provided for producing and inspecting a plurality of deposited features in a pattern on a portion of a substrate surface, as in an oligonucleotide array. The apparatus comprises a printhead for depositing a fluid to form the array of features on the substrate surface and a camera for imaging the deposited features. The apparatus also comprises a printhead controller for positioning and activating the inkjet printhead to deposit the array features. The camera, e.g., a digital line scan camera, is controlled by a camera controller such that the camera acquires images corresponding to substantially only the portion of the surface on which features should have been deposited. The camera and printhead are preferably situated such that an induced movement of the printhead relative to the substrate results in a substantially identical corresponding movement of the camera. Optionally, the apparatus further comprises means for comparing an image acquired by the camera with a predetermined standard to produce a signal.
-
Citations
25 Claims
-
1. An apparatus for producing and inspecting a plurality of features in a pattern on a surface of a substrate, comprising:
-
a printhead that deposits a fluid to form a plurality of features in a pattern on a first portion of a substrate surface, leaving a second intervening portion of the substrate surface nominally featureless;
an image acquisition system that images the substrate surface, said image acquisition system comprising;
a camera and a camera controller that positions and activates said camera to image in a two-dimensional manner by moving the camera across said first portion in a perpendicular direction with respect to a line of said features to acquire images corresponding to said first portion and less than all of said second portion; and
a printhead controller that positions the printhead relative to the substrate surface and activates the printhead to sequentially deposit the plurality of features in the pattern. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
-
-
24. An apparatus for producing and inspecting a plurality of features in a pattern on a surface of a substrate, said apparatus comprising:
-
a printhead that deposits a fluid to form a plurality of features in a pattern on a first portion of a substrate surface, leaving a second intervening portion of the substrate surface nominally featureless;
an image acquisition system that images the substrate surface, said image acquisition system comprising;
a camera and a camera controller comprising hardware and/or software that activates said camera, when said camera is positioned to detect a portion of the substrate surface on which a feature should have been deposited, to image in a two-dimensional manner by moving the camera across said first portion in a perpendicular direction with respect to a line of said features to acquire images corresponding to said first portion and less than all of said second portion; and
a printhead controller that positions the printhead relative to the substrate surface and activates the printhead to sequentially deposit the plurality of features in the pattern.
-
-
25. An apparatus for producing and inspecting an array of nucleic acid features on a surface of a substrate, said apparatus comprising:
-
a printhead that deposits a fluid to form an array of nucleic acid features on a first portion of a substrate surface, leaving a second intervening portion of the substrate surface nominally featureless;
an image acquisition system that images the substrate surface, said image acquisition system comprising;
a line scan camera comprising a line of pixels and a camera controller that positions and activates said camera to image in a two-dimensional manner by moving the camera across said first portion in a perpendicular direction with respect to the line of pixels to acquire images corresponding to said first portion and less than all of said second portion; and
a printhead controller that positions the printhead relative to the substrate surface and activates the printhead to sequentially deposit the fluid to form said array of nucleic acid features on the substrate surface.
-
Specification