Abstract:
For anyone familiar with 3D printing and Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs), it’s difficult to imagine a future where PCBs are not 3D printed. 3D printing promises to make PCB manufacturing faster, easier and more innovative. It is only recently, however, that printed electronics (PE) and 3D printing technology have started to catch up with imagination.
The 3D printed electronics space is in its infancy, more or less at the same level of adoption as regular 3D prototyping was in 2009. But its slow adoption is not from a lack of interest or need; rather, it’s because creating 3D printers for PCBs is exceedingly complex and existing inks and printers just weren’t up to the challenge. These printers must be able to print conductive traces, which is the domain of printed electronics and produce components that meet the demanding performance requirements of aerospace, defense, consumer electronics, Internet of Things and even wearables.
The presentation will cover the various aspects of 3D printed electronics, from material science to formulation, physics and precision and their integration into the overall printing process including curing and sintering of high performance conductive and dielectric inks. It will highlight the challenges of developing materials that enable 3D printing of precise prints of high-quality conductive traces, necessary for 3D printing of professional, multi-layer PCBs. This effort includes development of nano particle inks engineered to deliver the right amount of conductivity and adhesion to meet the requirements of different substrates, specific applications and mechanical requirements for every print job.
The presentation will highlight the many advantages of 3D printed electronics, including the flexibility of printing circuit board prototypes in-house for rapid prototyping, reducing time to build from weeks to just hours. Moreover, additive manufacturing of electronics can improve efficiency and make complexity free – which is game changing. It allows designers to innovate and create models that would normally be very difficult or even impossible to produce, or that would be time intensive using current standard subtractive processes.