Method and system for nozzle compensation in non-contact material deposition

Abstract

A method of printing is provided where printing is using a first printing unit having redundant nozzles. Then, the method may include stopping the printing with the first printing unit while continuing the printing with active nozzles of a second printing unit. The method may include inspecting the first printing unit and identifying faulty nozzles, then designating the faulty nozzles as inactive and designating inactive nozzles of the first printing unit as a new active nozzle. According to some embodiments the method may include moving the first printing unit to an inspection zone prior to inspecting while continuing the printing with active nozzles of a second printing unit and moving the first printing unit back to the printing zone after inspection and continuing the printing with the first printing unit.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of printing, the method comprising:
 printing in a printing zone using a first printing unit having nozzles, a first portion of the nozzles is designated as active nozzles and a second portion of the nozzles is designated as inactive nozzles, wherein the printing is done by selectively depositing material from the active nozzles of the first printing unit;   stopping the printing with the first printing unit while continuing the printing with active nozzles of a second printing unit;   inspecting the nozzles of the first printing unit;   choosing a new set of active nozzles based on inspection results; and   continuing the printing using the first printing unit with the new set of active nozzles.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  comprising:
 moving the first printing unit to an inspection zone prior to inspecting; and 
 moving the first printing unit back to the printing zone for continuing the printing. 
 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the nozzles are arranged in a row having a direction parallel to a scanning direction. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein printing comprises printing a line in the scanning direction. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  comprising:
 identifying one of the active nozzles of the first printing unit as a faulty nozzle; 
 designating the faulty nozzle as inactive and designating one of the inactive nozzles of the first printing unit as a new active nozzle, so as the new active nozzle replaces the faulty nozzle. 
 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein inspecting comprises:
 acquiring images of ejections of droplets performed by the nozzles of the first printing unit; and   identifying the faulty nozzle based on an analysis of the images.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the analysis comprises determining the size of droplets and the size of deviation of a jetting direction from a predetermined direction. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein depositing is depositing an electrically conductive material on one of a printed card board or a semiconductor wafer to produce metallization conduction lines. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the new set of active nozzles is chosen based on a required droplet size. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the new set of active nozzles is chosen based on the degree of stability of jetting from the nozzles. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the new set of active nozzles is chosen based the jetting direction of the nozzles.