Directional extruded bead control

A micro-extrusion system including a printhead assembly and a material feed system for extruding one or more materials out of extrusion nozzles defined in the printhead assembly such that the extruded materials form parallel beads on an upper surface of a target substrate, wherein the printhead assembly comprises:

• a first plate structure:
• a second plate structure;
• a bottom nozzle plate including a third front edge;
• and
• a layered nozzle structure sandwiched between the first and second plate structures, wherein the layered nozzle structure includes:
• a top nozzle plate including a first front edge and defining a first inlet port;
• and
• a nozzle outlet plate including a second front edge and defining an elongated nozzle channel extending in a predetermined first flow direction from a closed end to an opening defined through said second front edge;
• wherein the bottom nozzle plate and the nozzle outlet plate are beveled such that the second front edge of the nozzle outlet plate and the third front edge of the bottom nozzle plate are coplanar and define a planar orifice edge that is parallel to the upper surface of the target substrate.