An apparatus for coating a donor surface that is movable relative to the apparatus with a layer of metallic particles or particles having a metal-like appearance and reflectivity, the particles adhering more strongly to the surface than to one another. The apparatus comprises an application device to apply to the donor surface a fluid stream within which the particles are suspended, a housing surrounds the application device forming an interior plenum for confining the fluid stream, the housing prevents egress of particles from a sealing gap defined between the rim of the housing and the surface to be coated, and a suction source connected to the housing to extract from the plenum excess fluid and particles. In operation, the suction source extracts substantially all particles that are not in direct contact with the donor surface, leaving substantially a single particle layer adhering to the donor surface upon exiting the apparatus.

An apparatus for coating a donor surface that is movable relative to the apparatus with a layer of thermoplastic particles, the particles adhering more strongly to the surface than to one another. The apparatus comprises an application device to apply to the donor surface a fluid stream within which the particles are suspended, a housing surrounds the application device forming an interior plenum for confining the fluid stream, the housing prevents egress of particles from a sealing gap defined between the rim of the housing and the surface to be coated, and a suction source connected to the housing to extract from the plenum excess fluid and particles. In operation, the suction source extracts substantially all particles that are not in direct contact with the donor surface, leaving substantially a single particle layer adhering to the donor surface upon exiting the apparatus.

A method is provided for manufacturing an image on a substrate, wherein the image includes an indicia and a frame. The method includes covering at least a portion the substrate with a carrier comprising magnetically alignable flakes, aligning the magnetically alignable flakes with a magnetic field of a magnetic assembly comprising a metal plate with an opening, and solidifying the carrier. The frame is formed at an edge of the opening and the indicia is visible within the frame. The magnetic assembly includes two magnets disposed so that the North pole of one magnet and the South pole of another magnet are proximate to the metal plate at opposite sides of the opening.

Examples include a device for aligning magnetic or magnetizable particles contained in a coating agent applied to one side of a web-format or sheet-format substrate. An alignment device comprises one or more magnetic elements that, during normal operation, are fixed to a frame at the transport path and, in a working position, enter into magnetic interaction with magnetic or magnetizable particles on the substrate guided past the device along the transport path. The one or more magnetic elements are arranged at a carrier that extends transversely to the transport direction over a working width provided for processing the substrate. The carrier is mounted, on both sides, in or at a respective guide and can be moved in or at the guide, together with the one or more magnetic elements, along a movement path from the working position into a makeready position.

A printing form for producing a structure of an electronic component, in particular a photovoltaic solar cell, having a screen frame and a screen, which is in the form of a sheet-like textile and has a multiplicity of elongate screen elements. The screen is arranged in the screen frame and the screen has at least one printing region which a printing paste can permeate and at least one barrier region which the printing paste cannot permeate. The elongate screen elements are made from glass fiber, carbon fiber and/or carbon nanotubes.

Systems and methods for laser assisted deposition of a material includes a printing unit configured to print individual dot-like portions of a material from a donor substrate onto a receiving substrate, and a vacuum shuttle configured to be positionable in two or three dimensions between the printing unit and the donor substrate and to engage the donor substrate upon application of a vacuum to the vacuum shuttle. The printing unit may include a coating system and a laser. The vacuum shuttle includes a vacuum channel about its periphery and an open window through which the laser irradiates the donor substrate. The vacuum channel is fluidly coupled to a vacuum inlet for receiving a vacuum suction, thereby to engage the donor substrate and hold it taught against the bottom of the vacuum shuttle in operation. The vacuum shuttle may also include one or more distance measuring sensors and fiducial markers.