Printing apparatus and printing method for biochip fabrication

A printing apparatus for biochip fabrication, comprising:

• a platform having a top surface for supporting one or more substrates thereon, said platform being movable in a manner that said top surface is moved in an imaginary plane;
• a pipet module disposed movably above said platform and configured to contain optionally one or more solution samples therein, said pipet module being formed with one or more outlets each discharging a corresponding one of the solution sample(s);
• an image capturing module disposed movably above said platform near said pipet module, and configured to be activated in response to a triggering signal;
• a driving unit connected to said platform, said pipet module and said image capturing module, and configured to drive movement of each of said platform and said pipet module in a manner that said top surface is movable in the imaginary plane and that said pipet module is movable above said top surface, and to drive operation of said pipet module in a manner that said pipet module discharges the solution sample(s) through at least one of said outlet(s);
• a control module electrically connected to said driving unit and said image capturing module, and configured to execute a main printing procedure for each of the substrate(s) to
• control said driving unit to drive said platform to move to a plurality of positions in sequence according to a predetermined route associated with a plurality of to-be-printed points on the substrate that is placed on said top surface, the plurality of to-be-printed points forming a microarray, wherein, for each movement of said platform to one of the positions, each of said outlet(s) of said pipet module is aligned with a corresponding one of the to-be-printed points when said platform is moved to said one of the positions,
• control said driving unit to drive movement of said pipet module in a manner that each of said outlet(s) moves reciprocatively between a printing position adjacent to said top surface, and a standby position distal from said top surface, wherein, upon completion of each movement of said platform to said one of the positions, each of said outlet(s) has moved from the standby position thereof to the printing position thereof, and
• control said driving unit to drive said pipet module such that, right when said platform is moved to said one of the positions, said pipet module discharges, through each of said outlet(s), a droplet of a corresponding one of the solution sample(s) onto the corresponding one of the to-be-printed points to form a bio-sensing spot,
• wherein, after the main printing procedure is completed, a biochip is formed from the substrate and has a microarray of the bio-sensing spots respectively on the to-be-printed points, and said control module is further configured to output the triggering signal to said image capturing module such that said image capturing module is activated in response to the triggering signal to capture a first image of the biochip;
• and
• an image analyzing module electrically connected to said image capturing module and said control module, and configured to, in response to receipt of the first image of the biochip from said image capturing module, determine whether each of the bio-sensing spots in the first image of the biochip satisfies a predetermined criterion so as to generate a first analysis result and to output the first analysis result to said control module.