Daniel Slep, CEO
Dielectric materials play a critical role in modern electronics as they serve as insulators that prevent electrical charges from flowing between conductive parts. In recent years, significant advances have been made in the development of dielectric materials, driven by the demand for improved performance and efficiency in electronic devices. Novel methods have been developed for processing and integrating dielectric materials into electronic devices, including inkjet printing, plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition, and self-assembly techniques. These advances have enabled the fabrication of electronic devices with improved performance, reduced size, and lower power consumption. ChemCubed has adopted inkjet printing since it’s a promising technique for the fabrication of electronic devices due to its precision, versatility, and low cost. Together with our commercialized silver ink, we are able to print circuit boards with complex structures for electronic devices such as capacitors, sensors, and antennas, which have potential applications in diverse fields such as healthcare, energy, and communication. However, one disadvantage of inkjet printed polymer dielectric materials is its high coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE). By incorporating carbon nanotubes into the dielectric materials with a patent pending printing technique, we have dramatically decreased the CTEs of the dielectric materials we are using, as well as increased their mechanical propert...

Additive manufacturing of ceramics electronics is an interesting topic with applications in high-frequency and/or high-temperature electronics. This involves extensive process as well as novel material/paste development. CTTC is a center of competency in Limoge, France [one of the homes of ceramic technology in Europe], actively advancing this technology. In their lab [slide 1], they have the following machines to develop fully 3D printed ceramic electronic devices For 3D part: SLA, binder jetting, fused filament fabrication For metallization: Inkjet printing [Ceradrop], microdispensing [nScrypt], aerosol jet printing [optomec] In slide [2] you can see a fully 3D printed 4-pole filter operating in the 40GHz range, developed in collaboration with xlim laboratories. The structure was fully 3D printed using SLA [stereolithography] printed alumina, showing r = 9,94 and tan = 6.10^-4. The sides of the devices were metallized and using aerosol jet printing [AJP] an antenna structure was printed on the top with linewidths in the 100-120um range. The table shows the dimensions of the theoretical and AJP printed structures, revealing around 15-20% deviation. Nonetheless, as the measured graph shows, the device exhibits good filtering properties at 40GHz. Note that SLA often yields a solid and smooth surface, which is important for subsequent metallization. Slide [3] shows demonstrators for HTCC packaging which involves co-sintering at temperatures above 1000 C. Here, normal silver or...

Alicen Pittenger |Director of Sales
An overview of the expanding role of a contract manufacturer in the production of flexible wearable technologies...

Aart-Jan Hoeven | International Project / Technology Manager
The technology for integrating dies is an important enabler for the realization of advanced applications. This includes applications with power modules. Critical steps for the integration of such modules are in the micro assembly, for example in the wire bonding and the die attach. This presentation will highlight results from work on these steps in a project for prototyping power modules for electric vehicles (EVs).

Important for applications such as EVs and renewable energy supplies is the availability of reliable and efficient power modules. These are needed for converting from AC to DC, from DC to AC, for driving an electric motor and for various other purposes. SiC-based solutions are often preferred for high end applications, because they offer a higher efficiency, higher switching frequencies, reduced switching losses, higher operation temperatures and a better robustness as compared to traditional silicon components. A challenge in the integration of power modules is in the wirebonding. The problem is that wirebonding is a major source of failures because of thermal or mechanical stress, and therefore causes a reduced life time. Improved micro assembly processes can bring solutions for this problem....

Developing inkjet printing processes for printed electronics manufacturing is very tricky. It is certainly much tricker than non-functional inkjet printing since often single pass print is used with little chance to correct missed drops and application-level tolerance of defects is significantly lower. First, one needs to develop an ink that at least on paper satisfies the requirements in terms of particle size, viscosity, etc. This itself is an art as most materials and inks are not designed for inkjet. Next, one must select the right print head. This is easier said than done. This is because there are many print heads and each, all other things being equal, exhibit their own print characteristics including terms of print velocity, satellite formation, longevity of the print head, consistency, etc. It is hard to know a priori which will work and which not. Thus testing is required. Next one must optimize the waveform. This is relatively straightforward and somewhat often a standarized and mundate task in ink systems used outside printed electronics. However, it is a time-consuming fine-tuning process in printed electronics. It is also essential. Once these are all optimized one can go to pilot production, but still on small scale machine. Finally, if an application is successful or larger volumes are planned, one must transition to a larger-scale production-level machine. Here, the parameters are not exactly one-to-one transferable from lab to production level machines, and...

Luc Van Neer | CEO & Owner...

Chris O'Connor |VP, Global Business Group Many flexible heater products are produced using printing techniques. As applications requiring transparent antennas increase in number, it makes sense to use similar additive manufacturing techniques for flexible heaters. In all cases, each mass-produced heater is a replicate of the last, making their manufacture well suited for “analog” print manufacturing, such as flexography. The use of high-resolution printing enables the additive manufacturing of custom transparent heater designs – built from copper micro-wires for transparency and function.

This talk will provide an overview of the requirements for different transparent heater applications and how these requirements can be achieved with copper micro-wire patterns. Examples and data will be shared from lab-scale and production scale evaluations....

Zachary J. Davis | Team Manager
The DTI Printed Electronics group has been focused on development of sustainable materials and processes for printed electronics. In this talk you will hear from two of our EU projects, concerning the use of bio-based materials for on body EMG measurements and the use of copper materials and digital printing methods for sustainable production of membrane switches and electrochemical sensors. Finally, the talk will discuss the paths forward and which innovations are being developed to achieve full circularity for printed electronics....