Imaging system for thermal transfer

An optical imaging system for selective thermal transfer of a material from a donor film to a substrate, the optical imaging system comprising:

• a light source capable of emitting a patterned light beam, the patterned light beam including two or more emitted light segments, each emitted light segment having:
• a first full divergence angle and a first uniformity along a first direction;
• and
• a second full divergence angle and a second uniformity along a second direction;
• a light homogenizer receiving the two or more emitted light segments from an input face of the light homogenizer, the light homogenizer homogenizing each emitted light segment and transmitting a corresponding homogenized light segment from an output face of the light homogenizer, each transmitted homogenized light segment having:
• a third full divergence angle and a third uniformity along the first direction;
• and
• a fourth full divergence angle and a fourth uniformity along the second direction,
• the third uniformity of each transmitted homogenized light segment being greater than the first uniformity of each corresponding emitted light segment;
• a mask receiving each of the transmitted homogenized light segments and patterning each transmitted homogenized light segment into a row of n discrete light subsegments along the first direction, n being greater than twenty, each discrete light subsegment having a length along the first direction and a height along the second direction, the mask being capable of setting the length of each discrete light subsegment at any value in a range from about 50 microns to about 150 microns with an accuracy of one micron or better;
• a substrate;
• and
• a first lens system projecting each row of n discrete light subsegments onto the substrate with a projection magnification of one along the first direction, thereby forming a single row of n discrete projected light segments along the first direction, the distance between the first and the nth discrete projected light segments being at least ten millimeters, such that when a donor film that includes a transferable material disposed proximate a carrier, is placed proximate the substrate between the first lens and the substrate, each of the n discrete projected light segments is capable of inducing a transfer of the transferable material from the carrier onto the substrate.

An optical imaging system for selective thermal transfer of a material from a donor film to a substrate, the optical imaging system comprising:

• a light source including two or more sets of light bar assemblies, each set of light bar assembly including:
• two or more light bars, each light bar in the set being capable of emitting polarized light, a first polarization direction of polarized light emitted from at least one light bar in the set being different than a second polarization direction of polarized light emitted from at least another light bar in the set;
• and
• a polarizing beam combiner using the difference between the first and second polarization directions to combine polarized light emitted from the two or more light bars in the set to form a combined emitted light beam;
• a spatial filter combining the combined emitted light beams from the two or more sets of light emitters by reflecting at least a combined emitted light beam from one set of light emitters and transmitting at least a combined emitted light beam from another set of light emitters, the combination of the combined emitted light beams forming a patterned light beam, the patterned light beam including one or more emitted light segments, each emitted light segment having:
• a first full divergence angle and a first uniformity along a third direction;
• and
• a second full divergence angle and a second uniformity along a fourth direction, the third direction being different from the fourth direction;
• a light homogenizer receiving the one or more emitted light segments from an input face of the light homogenizer, the light homogenizer homogenizing each emitted light segment and transmitting a corresponding homogenized light segment from an output face of the light homogenizer, each transmitted homogenized light segment having:
• a third full divergence angle and a third uniformity along the third direction;
• and
• a fourth full divergence angle and a fourth uniformity along the fourth direction,
• the third uniformity of each transmitted homogenized light segment being greater than the first uniformity of each corresponding emitted light segment;
• a mask receiving each of the transmitted homogenized light segments and patterning each transmitted homogenized light segment into a row of n discrete light subsegments along the third direction, n being greater than twenty, each discrete light subsegment having a length along the third direction and a height along the fourth direction, the mask being capable of setting the length of each discrete light subsegment at any value in a range from about 50 microns to about 150 microns with an accuracy of one micron or better;
• a substrate;
• and
• a first lens system projecting each row of n discrete light subsegments onto the substrate with a projection magnification of one along the third direction, thereby forming a single row of n discrete projected light segments along the third direction, the distance between the first and the nth discrete projected light segments being at least ten millimeters, such that when a donor film that includes a transferable material disposed proximate a carrier, is placed proximate the substrate between the first lens and the substrate, each of the n discrete projected light segments is capable of inducing a transfer of the transferable material from the carrier onto the substrate.