Roll to roll mask-less lithography with active alignment

An apparatus for lithographic patterning, comprising:

• a substrate transfer assembly for moving a flexible substrate continuously on a substrate supporting surface;
• an image printing assembly comprising a plurality of printing units disposed over the printing region, wherein each of the plurality of image units comprises:
• an image sensing device;
• and
• an image printing device;
• and
• a controller connected with the image printing assembly, wherein the controller is configured to perform, for each of the plurality of printing units:
• receiving and analyzing an image of an upcoming printing area captured by the image sensing device;
• determining one or more characteristics of the upcoming printing region;
• generating an exposure pattern from a target pattern and the one or more characteristics of the upcoming printing region;
• and
• sending the exposure pattern to the image printing device of the printing unit.

A method for performing maskless lithography, comprising:

• moving a flexible substrate continuously on a cylindrical substrate supporting surface relative to a plurality of printing units disposed over the cylindrical substrate supporting surface;
• capturing an image of an upcoming printing region on the flexible substrate for each of the plurality of printing units;
• determining one or more characteristics of the upcoming printing area from the captured image;
• generating an exposure pattern from a target pattern and the one or more characteristics of the upcoming printing area;
• and
• printing the exposure pattern on the upcoming printing region using the corresponding printing unit.