Systems and methods for 3D printing with vacuum assisted laser printing machine

Abstract

Systems and methods in which a material or materials (e.g., a viscous material) are printed or otherwise transferred onto an intermediate substrate at a printing unit(s). The intermediate substrate having an image of material printed thereon is subsequently transferred to a sample building unit, and the image of material is transferred from the intermediate substrate to a sample at the sample building unit. Optionally, the printing unit(s) includes a coating system that creates a uniform layer of the material on a donor substrate, and the material is transferred from the donor substrate onto the intermediate substrate at the printing unit(s). Each of the printing units may employ a variety of printing or other transfer technologies. The system may also include material curing, heating, sintering, ablating, material filling, imaging and cleaning units to aid in the overall process.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.