Laser-induced forward transfer: fundamentals and applications

Abstract

Laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT) is a digital printing technique that uses a pulsed laser beam as the driving force to project material from a donor thin film toward the receiving substrate whereon that material will be finally deposited as a voxel. This working principle allows LIFT to operate with both solid and liquid donor films, which provides the technique with an unprecedented broad spectrum of printable materials, and thus makes it very competitive over other digital technologies, like inkjet printing. It is not only that LIFT can access a much wider range of ink viscosities and loading particle sizes; the possibility of printing from solid films allows the single-step printing of multilayers and entire devices, and even makes possible 3D printing. This versatility translates, in turn, into a broad field of applications, from graphics production to printed electronics, from the fabrication of chemical sensors to tissue engineering. This monograph provides an extensive review of the LIFT technique, from its origins to the most recent achievements, focusing on the fundamental aspects of both its working principle and transfer dynamics, as well as on its broad range of applications.