Patent Grant
9839938
The invention relates to the field of distributing particles on a surface. The invention particularly relates to a depositing device for particles via the liquid route or a device for depositing particles via the liquid route. The invention further relates to a method for depositing particles via the liquid route. Finally, the invention relates to a product obtained by the method according to the invention.
It is known to deposit on a surface particles in suspension in a liquid. It is possible to deposit some liquid on the surface then to evaporate the liquid.
However, it is complex to deposit particles on surfaces in a repeatable manner according to this method. This is because the quantity of particles deposited depends on the method of depositing the liquid. In order to control this quantity, it is necessary to deposit a calibrated volume of this liquid in order always to have the same quantity of material available in order to fill structures of a structured substrate with the particles.
When the volumes of liquid to be deposited are small and when the sizes become small, phenomena of capillarity become dominant and complicate matters.
An object of the invention is to provide a device for depositing particles via the liquid route, improving the devices known from the prior art. In particular, the invention proposes a simple device which allows operations for depositing particles via the liquid route which are repeatable, reliable and precise.
According to the invention, the device for depositing particles via the liquid route comprises:
The vent and the communication hole may be arranged opposite each other in the second chamber or substantially opposite each other in the second chamber and/or the vent and the communication hole may be arranged on two opposing or substantially opposing walls of the second chamber.
The first chamber and the second chamber may have a first wall and a second wall which are arranged one in continuation of the other, respectively. The first chamber and the second chamber may have in particular a common ceiling.
The first chamber may be parallelepipedal or substantially parallelepipedal and/or the second chamber may be parallelepipedal or substantially parallelepipedal.
The volume of the first chamber may be less than the volume of the second chamber, or the volume of the first chamber may be less than half of the volume of the second chamber, or the volume of the first chamber may be less than one-third of the volume of the second chamber.
The height of the first chamber may be less than the height of the second chamber, or the height of the first chamber may be less than half of the height of the second chamber, or the height of the first chamber may be less than one-third of the height of the second chamber.
The device may comprise a base and a cover which is removable and/or fitted to the base.
The device may be produced from a silicone-based material, in particular PDMS.
The volume of the first chamber may be approximately from 30 to 40 mm3 and/or the volume of the second chamber may be approximately 100 mm3.
According to the invention, the method for depositing particles on a surface of a substrate comprises the use of a device defined above.
The method may comprise the following steps,
The step of supplying the first chamber with a liquid charged with particles may be carried out by means of a tool, in particular a needle, the end diameter of which is less than the height of the first chamber.
The invention also relates to a product obtained by carrying out the method defined above.
The invention will be better understood from a reading of the following description given purely by way of example and with reference to the appended drawings, in which:
A first embodiment of a device 10 for depositing particles via the liquid route according to the invention is described below with reference to
The device 10 comprises:
The external medium is the ambient atmosphere, in particular ambient air. The vent is arranged in a vertical wall of the second chamber which is not intended to come into contact with a liquid which will be injected into the chambers.
The first and second chambers which are connected via the communication hole therefore form a single cavity.
The communication hole may not have a cross-section having a surface-area smaller than the one which the chamber having smaller dimensions has, at least in the region of the hole.
As set out above, the first chamber and the second chamber are constructed in the device, in particular in the base 1. The cover 2 closes the first chamber and the second chamber at one side of the device. At the other side of the device, the second chamber has an opening 129 which is intended to be closed by a surface 101 of a substrate which is intended to be processed as described below, that is to say, a surface on which particles have to be deposited. The first chamber and the second chamber advantageously have a first cover wall 111 and a second wall 121 which are arranged one in continuation of the other, respectively. In this manner, the cover may form a ceiling 111, 121 common to the first chamber and the second chamber.
Preferably, the vent and the communication hole are arranged opposite each other in the second chamber or substantially opposite each other in the second chamber. In particular, the vent and the communication hole may be arranged on two opposing or substantially opposing walls 122, 125 of the second chamber, in particular walls which are parallel or substantially parallel. The advantage of such an arrangement or configuration will be set out below.
For example, the first chamber is parallelepipedal or substantially parallelepipedal and/or the second chamber is parallelepipedal or substantially parallelepipedal. For example, the first chamber has a bottom 119 and lateral walls 113, 114 and 115. For example, the second chamber has lateral walls 122, 123, 124 and 125.
The volume of the first chamber is less than the volume of the second chamber. The volume of the first chamber may in particular be less than half of the volume of the second chamber, or the volume of the first chamber may be less than one-third of the volume of the second chamber. In particular, the volume of the first chamber is approximately from 30 to 40 mm3 and/or the volume of the second chamber is approximately 100 mm3. With the dimensions of the chambers of the device of
The height h′ of the first chamber is preferably less than the height h of the second chamber, or the height h′ of the first chamber is less than half of the height h of the second chamber, or the height h′ of the first chamber is less than one-third of the height h of the second chamber. For example, h is 3 mm and h′ is between 0.5 mm and 1.5 mm, in particular 1 mm.
The second chamber is connected to the first chamber via the hole 13, having a cross-sectional surface-area which is one-third of the surface-area of a side of the second chamber, to which the first chamber is connected. The first chamber may have the same width as the second chamber and/or the upper walls 111, 121 thereof may be co-planar.
The device is preferably produced from a silicone-based material, in particular PDMS (or polydimethylsiloxane). The horizontal faces, that is to say, the cover, may be produced from glass.
The device may be produced, for example, by moulding PDMS in an aluminium mould. Other materials may be used but the wettability of those materials by the liquid used must be similar to that of the PDMS by water.
One manner of carrying out a method for depositing particles on a surface 101 of a substrate 100 is described below with reference to
The method comprises the use of a device as defined or described above.
The deposition method comprises the following steps,
The step of supplying the first chamber 11 with a liquid 30 charged with particles is carried out by means of a tool 110, in particular a needle, the diameter of the end of which is advantageously less than the height h′ of the first chamber 11.
Once the device has been positioned on the surface of the substrate on which the particles have to be deposited, it is first necessary to fill the first chamber, then the filling action is continued in the second chamber, the liquid introduced into the first chamber travelling towards the second chamber via the hole 13. That filling is carried out by means of a tool which allows piercing of a wall of the first chamber, in particular the wall 111 or the wall 115. The filling is continued until coverage is provided of the surface 101 of the substrate on which particles have to be deposited and is stopped before the second chamber is completely filled, that is to say, before the wall 122 having the vent 14 is wetted. Therefore, the measure of liquid contained in the tool must be calibrated and less than the volume of the cavity formed by the first and second chambers. As a result of the phenomena of capillarity, the liquid progressively wets the walls 125, 101, 121, 123 and 124 during the filling action after being discharged via the hole 13 and the liquid front 31 progresses towards the wall 122, discharging the gas, in particular the air contained in the second chamber, via the vent 14.
As a result of the configuration of the device, it is impossible to impose wetting conditions on the liquid before it is introduced into the second chamber. The first chamber must be completely filled (or substantially filled; there may remain one or more air pockets) before the start of the filling of the second chamber. Therefore, the liquid will be distributed in the second chamber from the communication hole 13 and therefore only progressively wetting the surfaces of the second chamber, for example, progressively wetting five of the walls of the second chamber. The wall 122 having the vent 14 faces the liquid front but is not reached by the liquid, the volume of liquid being established or calibrated in order to prevent it from wetting that wall. The liquid front 31 may thus be formed substantially parallel with the wall 122. That effect is obtained by the arrangements relating to the vent and the communication hole in the second chamber. The vent and hole are, for example, arranged opposite each other or substantially opposite each other in the second chamber.
The first chamber may be filled without any constraint on the position of the tool 110 ensuring the filling operation, in particular the needle 110. The diameter of the end of the tool 110 is, for example, 0.5 mm. This tool allows the material of the device to be pierced in order to inject the liquid. The effect obtained is independent of the position of the injection. This is because, during the injection, the end of the tool may be perpendicular to the bottom 119 of the device. Alternatively, the end of the tool may be parallel with the bottom 119 of the device. The end of the tool may further occupy any intermediate configuration.
In order to promote or to allow the evaporation of the liquid as illustrated in
The vent can be coupled to an aspiration system. The control of the aspiration system may improve, in a state associated with the heating, the efficacy of the deposit of particles.
If particles have to be deposited on a large substrate surface, and if the cavity has a large volume, the device may comprise a plurality of vents. The vents are preferably distributed over the wall 125. It is also possible to dispense with the wall 125. The opening of the second chamber in this region constitutes a vent having large dimensions.
The device 10 may subsequently be withdrawn or removed. In other words, the device 10 may be removed or separated from the substrate. Thus, a product 100 or a substrate 100 produced by carrying out the method defined or described above is obtained. Therefore, a product 100 or a substrate 100 on which particles have been deposited is obtained.
As a result of the solution described above, it is possible to bring about an introduction of the tool which supplies the liquid which does not destroy or damage the substrate. When the desired quantity of liquid is established, the operation becomes reproducible because the quantity deposited will always be identical.
When a liquid is injected into a cell whose volume is similar to the volume of the injected liquid, it is very difficult to be deterministic regarding the faces which will be in contact with the liquid. As a result of the solution described above, it is thus possible to inject a liquid into a closed volume, for example, of parallelepipedal form, with a tool in a deterministic manner. The filling is reproducible and independent of the dexterity of the operator. It is known that only some predetermined walls of the second chamber will be wetted by the liquid. Finally, as a result of the geometry of the device, it is possible not to damage the walls of the second chamber or the surface of the substrate (by puncturing the wall or the surface).
Depositing particles on a surface may allow the subsequent analysis of the particles and/or the characterisation thereof. Depositing particles on a surface may allow a functionalisation of the surface, wherein the particles fulfil a predetermined function, in particular a function which they fulfil intrinsically.
In this document, the term “vent” is intended to be understood to be any opening or passage or any assembly of openings or passages allowing gas to be discharged.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 54166 | May 2014 | FR | national |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6068878 | Alwan | May 2000 | A |
| 20050129867 | Picard | Jun 2005 | A1 |
| 20110135834 | Schneider | Jun 2011 | A1 |
| 20110159700 | Yeh | Jun 2011 | A1 |
| 20120040164 | Lee | Feb 2012 | A1 |
| 20120171448 | Akey et al. | Jul 2012 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 2008014604 | Feb 2008 | WO |
| WO 2014066862 | May 2014 | WO |
| Entry |
|---|
| French Preliminary Search Report and Written Opinion dated Jan. 21, 2015, issued in corresponding application No. FR1454166; with English partial translation and partial machine-translation. |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20150321216 A1 | Nov 2015 | US |
