The present invention relates to a feeding assembly (1) for automatically loading a flexographic plate (5) in a treatment station (7). The assembly according to the invention comprises a punching unit of said plate (5), handling means (5) for moving the flexographic plate from a loading surface to said punching unit and from said punching unit to a housing site in which a pin bar (14) which can be connected to said plate (5) is arranged. According to the invention, the handling means are configured to connect the plate (5) to said bar automatically and to move the bar, at the end of such a connection, to a predetermined position in which it can be coupled to a treatment system (77) of said treatment station.

A resist patterning method according to the present invention includes: a resist layer forming step S101 of forming a resist layer (12) on a substrate (11); an activating step S103 of activating the resist layer by irradiation with an activating energy beam; a decay inhibiting step S105 of inhibiting decay of the activity of the resist layer; a latent pattern image forming step S107 of forming a latent pattern image in the activated resist layer by irradiation with a latent image forming energy beam; and a developing step S110 of developing the resist layer.

Provided are a pattern formation method including a step of preparing a base material which has an etching layer transparent to an exposure wavelength on each of two surfaces thereof and is transparent to the exposure wavelength, a step of forming a photosensitive resin layer, in which an optical density to the exposure wavelength is in a range of 0.50 to 2.50, on the etching layer on each of the two surfaces of the base material, a step of pattern-exposing the photosensitive resin layer, a step of developing the photosensitive resin layer to form a resist pattern on two surfaces, a step of removing the etching layer on a portion that is not coated with the resist pattern, and a step of peeling the resist pattern off, in this order, a laminate, and a method of producing a touch panel.

An apparatus configured to manufacture an article using a photoresist comprising photoresist material, the apparatus comprising: a. a housing configured to receive the photoresist and locate the photoresist in at least one operational position in the housing; b. an exposure system configured to emit radiation which is incident on the photoresist material when in the operational position, to induce a change in one or more properties of the area(s) of the photoresist material exposed to the radiation; and c. a heater configured to heat the photoresist material to cure the photoresist material to the substrate when the photoresist is in the operational position, or is in a different operational position in the housing; wherein d. the housing is radiation excluding such that external radiation cannot enter the housing at least to the extent that the external radiation is sufficiently excluded from the housing to prevent, or minimise polymerisation of the photoresist material, and further wherein the housing is a clean housing configured to prevent unwanted contamination from entering the housing, at least when the photoresist is located in the or each operational position.

The apparatus may be a floor standing or desktop apparatus, for producing single or multi-layered articles.

The invention relates to a method for producing pictorial relief structures on a layer construction. The method comprises the provision of a layer construction having a substrate layer. After this, at least one fluid containing at least one first reactive component is applied pictorially to the substrate, wherein the pictorial application takes place in the form of a plurality of droplets with a droplet volume of less than 2 l, and wherein the droplets are positioned pictorially. After this, there is an at least partial diffusing of the at least one first reactive component into the substrate layer for a predefined exposure time and/or an at least partial diffusing of at least one second reactive component into the pictorially positioned droplets of fluid for a predefined exposure time, wherein the substrate layer comprises the at least one second reactive component. The created relief is then fixed under the influence of heat and/or radiation via a reaction involving the first reactive component and/or the second reactive component.

Further aspects of the invention relate to a pictorial relief structure produced according to the method and to the use of the pictorial relief structure as a printing form, as a microfluidic component, as a microreactor, as a phoretic cell, as a light-controlling element for color representation, as photonic crystals or as flexible parts of items of clothing.

The disclosure discloses a method for exposing a transparent substrate, including: fixing relative positions of a first mask, a second mask and the transparent substrate; exposing various regions of the transparent substrate by light with different polarization directions generated by the first mask and the second mask respectively. By the method above, the disclosure can simplify the process, reduce the period and improve efficiency of production.

Method for exposing a relief precursor, using a first light source to expose a first side of a relief precursor, a movable second light source to expose a second side of the relief precursor opposite the first side during one or more second exposure periods of one or more second exposure steps, said method comprising the steps of receiving through an operator interface at least one first characteristic representative for the first exposure period and/or at least one second characteristic representative for the one or more second exposure periods determining a sequence of operation for the first light source and the second light source based on the at least one first and/or second characteristic, said sequence being such that each of said one or more second exposure periods either fully overlaps with the first exposure period or does not overlap with the first exposure period.

A method, a control means and an exposure apparatus for exposing a relief precursor (P) with a light source (2), the illumination area of the light source (2) covering part of the area of the precursor, wherein exposing the total area of the precursor is performed during an exposure pass by moving relatively to each other the light source and the precursor, the method comprising a step (20) of providing a mask (4) on a photosensitive layer, a first exposing step (ES1) comprising exposing during one or more exposure passes the precursor according to a first intensity profile (IP1) and a first speed profile (SP1); a second exposing step (ES2) comprising exposing during one or more exposure passes the precursor according to a second intensity profile (IP2) different from the first intensity profile (IP1) and a second speed profile (SP2) different from the first speed profile (SP1).

An indexing image for craft stamps that is opaque to the eye but transparent to UV light is produced by printing a wavelength-specific solvent-based ink on the stamp substrate. This eliminates the step of printing a separate adhesive-backed indexing image sheet and applying it to the substrate,

An indexing image for craft stamps that is opaque to the eye but transparent to UV light is produced by printing a wavelength-specific solvent-based ink on the stamp substrate. This eliminates the step of printing a separate adhesive-backed indexing image sheet and applying it to the substrate.