All MIVA systems are flatbed, allowing exposure of panels, film, glass or chrome plates and eliminating any deformation of the medium during imaging. The medium is held in place during the imaging procedure and the area of the plot is exposed by one or more projectors mounted on a moving X-Y-Z table which moves in a plane parallel to the film. Because of this, the projected pixel size and therefore the line width or structure size is stable over the plotting area.

MIVA Direct Imagers and Mask Writers use Quad Wavelength Semiconductor light sources in each imaging projector. This allows exposure optimization of our customer´s preferred photoresist or solder mask type. For increased DI throughput, multi-head systems are available, also as an in-field upgrade. Light Sources are in-field Swap & Go replaceable.

It is important to note that on all MIVA imagers the minimum structure size is directly related but not equal to the projected spot or pixel size. This is because a line or structure is constructed from several pixels which are placed slightly offset to one another. For example, on the MIVA 2025DI, a Direct Imager working in 10.000 dpi mode, the specified minimum structure size is not 2,54 microns (the pixel raster size) but is specified by us at 25microns, because MIVA imagers generally use at least 10 pixels to realise our defined minimum structures in high quality

Resolutions currently available range from 3000 dpi to 128000 dpi.

Netlink - Windows compatible queue manager.
Netlink runs from any PC on the same network as the plotter. NETLINK allows MIVA imagers to be operated remotely via a local area network. NETLINK also allows plot queues to be easily set up for many different types of photoresist, or other imaging media. It does this by setting up the imager automatically to work with the medium currently being exposed, thereby reducing the chance of operational errors, and minimising the operator´s workload. A numbering or coding system for imaged panels or films can also be set up in Netlink.

MIVA Bitmap Interpreter - for imaging of PostScript, TIFF und PCX data formats.

The MIVA Bitmap Interpreter allows imagers to expose bitmap data using data sources in various data formats, currently supported are:

• PCX (1 and 8 bit)
• TIFF (Uncompressed and Packbits format)
• PostScript

The maximum media size is obviously determined by the imager bed size. The minimum media size however is an important factor in reducing media wastage and is either unlimited or very low (approximately 3” x 3”) depending on media type. Media can be used in standard sizes or cut to size before imaging. For maximum plot sizes of each machine, please refer to the product overview on this site. Custom size imagers can be built on request to meet exceptional customer specifications. Several custom MIVA imagers have been installed worldwide to-date. The largest plotter, now working in the UK, has a plotting area of 3m x 1.1m. The largest Direct Imager, operating in Germany, has a maximum media length of 6 meters.

MIVA DI: We recommend to operate MIVA Direct Imagers in standard yellow safelight conditions. This avoids pre- or post-exposure of resist-coated panels or UV films.