Patent ID: 8030477

Claim:
A method of projecting a pattern onto a surface comprising the steps of: (a) providing a substrate with an active surface to which protected linker molecules have been applied; (b) projecting a two-dimensional light image onto the active surface of the substrate using projection optics comprising reflective optical elements to illuminate pixel sites on the active surface to photodeprotect the linker molecules thereon, wherein the reflective optical elements provide telecentric projection optics and wherein the step of projecting the two-dimensional image onto the active surface of the substrate comprises: (i) providing a micromirror device comprising a two-dimensional array of electronically addressable micromirrors, each of which can be selectively tilted between one of at least two separate positions, and providing signals to the micromirror device to select a pattern of the micromirrors in the two-dimensional array which are to reflect light onto the active surface; and (ii) projecting light from a light source onto the micromirror array and reflecting the light from the mirrors of the micromirror array onto the projection optics to project the two-dimensional image onto the active surface, and further wherein the step of projecting the two-dimensional light image does not use a lithographic mask.