ChemCal Chemical Printer and Mapper

The ChemCal chemical printer is an instrument with two functions. The first function is to generate precisely known concentrations of single or multiple chemical compounds on smooth or irregular surfaces. This provides well defined chemical targets for calibrating detectors used for measuring the type and concentration of trace chemical contaminants on surfaces. The second function of the ChemCal is to calibrate the TraC trace chemical detector over a wide range of chemicals and chemical concentrations. The ChemCal enables the automatic generation of a chemical concentration curve.

The ChemCal can handle as many as 20 different chemicals, which can be laid down on both smooth and irregular surfaces in a variety of nanodroplet patterns, which are interleaved or overlaid to suit the chemical detection application. Colloidal dispersions, such as microbial dispersions can also be accurately deposited. In addition, the ChemCal can handle a wide range of fluid viscosities and surface tensions.

The advantage of ChemCal over other multi-nozzle inkjet array methods is that ChemCal can deposit highly accurate concentrations of materials in both uniform and non-uniform concentrations or gradients to simulate situations in which trace contamination detectors are employed.