Patent ID: 6890050

Claim:
A method for operating a printing system to produce a printed pattern from a pattern layout, the printing system comprising a print head and a stage for supporting a substrate, the method comprising: separating the pattern layout into a plurality of design layers, a first one of the plurality of design layers comprising a first plurality of layout elements from the pattern layout, wherein the first plurality of layout elements run parallel to a first reference axis; performing a first print operation to print the first one of the plurality of design layers on the substrate by making a plurality of printing passes with the print head across the substrate in a first print direction, the first print direction being substantially aligned with the first reference axis; printing a plurality of alignment marks at predefined reference locations on the substrate; and performing a layer alignment operation between printing the first design layer and a second design layer, the layer alignment operation comprising: measuring an actual location for each of the plurality of alignment marks; comparing the actual location of each of the plurality of alignment marks against the predefined reference location for each of the plurality of alignment marks to determine an angle of rotation and translation vector; and utilizing the angle of rotation and translation vector to align the second design layer with the substrate.