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(March 7, 2008) Santa Clara, CA — FUJIFILM Dimatix Inc. today announced its collaboration with Agilent Technologies Inc. to supply the company with innovative inkjet products based on the latest semiconductor manufacturing technologies for use in life sciences applications. Agilent uses the FUJIFILM Dimatix inkjet technology to develop products that allow life scientists to more efficiently target and analyze sequences of genetic material.
FUJIFILM Dimatix worked with Agilent to incorporate custom versions of the Dimatix Materials Cartridge (DMC) into Agilent's life sciences applications. Specifically designed for R&D and feasibility testing, the cartridge-style printhead, based on FUJIFILM Dimatix' patented Shaped Piezo Silicon micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) technology, enables FUJIFILM Dimatix to develop printhead features and product families that are reportedly smaller and more versatile than others on the market.
"The shape of our MEMS-based printhead nozzles are extraordinarily precise, and their absolute position on the silicon die permits higher drop placement accuracy over greater throw distances," said John Higginson, VP, Engineering, Deposition Products, FUJIFILM Dimatix. "The robust silicon structure also lends itself to solid, reliable operation and long service life – all of which are desirable attributes for building new printer architectures that can improve inkjet's performance in traditional applications, and out of the box applications, such as Agilent's."
Because of the extremely small but precise structural geometries it produces, the Shaped Piezo Silicon MEMS fabrication technique enables FUJIFILM Dimatix to manufacture printheads capable of routinely jetting a broad range of fluids with droplet sizes. Sizes can range from the 10 picoliters (10 trillionths of a liter) used in precision graphics applications, to droplets containing 1 pL or less that are required for precision materials deposition of specialty fluids.
Commenting on the innovative technology, Bill Peck, Senior Engineer and Writer Technology Project Manager, Agilent said, "When we are building systems for in-situ synthesis of molecules like DNA, we require a fluid deposition system with outstanding precision, throughput, reliability and control."
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