Chapter 9
Laser-Induced Forward Transfer
Towards Additive Manufacturing
S. Papazoglou and I. Zergioti
Abstract The evolution of the printed and flexible electronics has attracted great
interest from the academia and the industrial world as well. Due to the wide number of
potential materials and emerging applications that may be exploited, laser printing has
been studied both for scientific research and commercial purposes. In this context, this
chapter discusses the fundamental theory supporting laser printing and specifically
Laser-Induced Forward Transfer that is a direct non-contact and non-destructive
laser printing technique in an aim to provide a complete overview of the printing
mechanism and the jetting dynamics, while in the following paragraphs potential
applications are also presented. Moreover, since Laser-Induced Forward Transfer
is a technique that could be described as an additive process, in contrary to the
subtractive processes such as laser sintering, part of this chapter is focused on the
evolution of the technique towards additive manufacturing as well as industrialization
activities that have risen in the last 5 years.
Abbreviations
Acronym Definition
AFA-LIFT Absorbing film assisted LIFT
BA-LIFT Blister-actuated LIFT
BioLP
Biological laser printing
CW
Continuous Wave
DRL-LIFT Dynamic release layer-LIFT
FBARs
Film Bulk Acoustic Resonators
IC
Integrated Circuit
S. Papazoglou · I. Zergioti (B)
School of Applied Mathematical and Physical Sciences, National Technical University of Athens,
Heroon Polytechneiou 9, 157 80, Athens, Greece
e-mail: zergioti@central.ntua.gr
S. Papazoglou
e-mail: simpap@mail.ntua.gr
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
A. Hu (ed.), Laser Micro-Nano-Manufacturing and 3D Microprinting, Springer Series
in Materials Science 309, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59313-1_9
273
Laser-Induced Forward Transfer
Towards Additive Manufacturing
S. Papazoglou and I. Zergioti
Abstract The evolution of the printed and flexible electronics has attracted great
interest from the academia and the industrial world as well. Due to the wide number of
potential materials and emerging applications that may be exploited, laser printing has
been studied both for scientific research and commercial purposes. In this context, this
chapter discusses the fundamental theory supporting laser printing and specifically
Laser-Induced Forward Transfer that is a direct non-contact and non-destructive
laser printing technique in an aim to provide a complete overview of the printing
mechanism and the jetting dynamics, while in the following paragraphs potential
applications are also presented. Moreover, since Laser-Induced Forward Transfer
is a technique that could be described as an additive process, in contrary to the
subtractive processes such as laser sintering, part of this chapter is focused on the
evolution of the technique towards additive manufacturing as well as industrialization
activities that have risen in the last 5 years.
Abbreviations
Acronym Definition
AFA-LIFT Absorbing film assisted LIFT
BA-LIFT Blister-actuated LIFT
BioLP
Biological laser printing
CW
Continuous Wave
DRL-LIFT Dynamic release layer-LIFT
FBARs
Film Bulk Acoustic Resonators
IC
Integrated Circuit
S. Papazoglou · I. Zergioti (B)
School of Applied Mathematical and Physical Sciences, National Technical University of Athens,
Heroon Polytechneiou 9, 157 80, Athens, Greece
e-mail: zergioti@central.ntua.gr
S. Papazoglou
e-mail: simpap@mail.ntua.gr
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
A. Hu (ed.), Laser Micro-Nano-Manufacturing and 3D Microprinting, Springer Series
in Materials Science 309, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59313-1_9
273