Magnetic field assisted microcontact printing: A new concept of fully automated and calibrated process

•A new concept is presented: magnetic field assisted microcontact printing.•An automated system results from this concept: the INNOSTAMP40.•The genericity of this concept is proven by using standard stamp and macrostamp.•The homogeneity of the deposit is studied.•A developed model permits to find some trends in order to calibrate the INNOSTAMP40.

Microcontact printing (μ-CP) is a well-known and easy-to-use technology which is well established worldwide. This technology opens new opportunities for various applications. Though there is a wide range of applications, there is no standardized or calibrated system to easily reproduce microcontact printing results or to transfer scientific research to industrial applications. One of the critical points affecting the quality of μCP is being able to control the force applied on the stamp during the printing step. Up until this point, existing technologies have been based on a mechanical force. However, the drawback to this system is that stamp geometry has to be adapted to the mechanical system.In this work, we propose a new concept of magnetic field assisted microcontact printing. We report theoretical and experimental studies of the homogeneity of the force applied and the resulting deposit. Theoretical models allow the prediction of a trend between the thickness of the magnetic stamp, the iron powder concentration and the pressure applied. The versatility of this concept is proven thanks to the development of an automated prototype, the INNOSTAMP40.

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