Adding a Substrate

Adding a substrate to your materials library is a common action you'll need to do if you plan on printing onto multiple substrates. These steps will take you through this process.

Adding a Substrate:

From the main screen, select the Materials from the available options.

Next, select the Library option to manage your materials.

Once on the Manage your Library screen, you’ll want to create a new material with either the Create button in the center of the screen or the + button from the materials library on the left.

Much like adding our paste material earlier, in this step you will add a few details to distinguish it in the library.

Once created, you will be able to add in some basic details for the substrate so NOVA knows how to handle it during printing.

Probe pitch sets the maximum distance between probing measurements. A smaller probe pitch creates a more accurate height map, but takes longer to complete.

Vacuum power determines how much suction to use during probing and printing and is expressed as a percentage. Thin films and flexible substrates should be printed with a powered vacuum, 20-30% is adequate for most films.

Increasing the vacuum power beyond 30% is not recommended and may cause extra wear on the vacuum pump.

Minimum raise height sets the vertical clearance the tools will take between travel moves. Increase this setting to avoid collisions with components or mounting features. A minimum raise height of 1.0 mm is used during dispensing.

Once saved, your material will be available for you to use in the dispense workflow.