Patent ID: 8522848

Claim:
A printhead for delivering functional blocks to a substrate, comprising: a reservoir for accepting a plurality of functional blocks, wherein the functional blocks are transferred as an array to a releasable adhesive, wherein the releasable adhesive is disposed on a surface of the reservoir; a light source for providing photon energy to the releasable adhesive holding the functional blocks; a heat source comprising an array of thin film heating elements for providing thermal energy to the releasable adhesive holding the functional blocks; wherein the thin film heating elements are disposed between the light source and the reservoir, and wherein the thin film heating elements comprise transparent heating elements for passing light from the light source to the functional blocks on the reservoir; and a controller for controlling the thin film heating elements of the heat source to provide localized heating to selective areas of the releasable adhesive, wherein the heat source and the light source enable releasing individual functional blocks from the reservoir for positioning on the substrate.