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 properties and thermal stabilities.

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 further control, measurement, and optimization of the ink-printhead-substrate interplay is required. ImageXpert has developed an all-in-one platform that can accompany developers through all stages from ink formulation to print head selection to waveform optimization to quality control and pilot production and finally to optimization for and in mass production. Kyle Pucci, Director of Applications Engineering expertly explains these challenges and how the ImageXpert solutions can help accelerte the process, getting better results with much less effort, time and money! Enjoy the watch ImageXpert will be exhibiting in Berlin on 17-18 OCT 2023. Join ImageXpert, 77 other exhibitors and over 600 industry participants to RESHAPE the Future of Electronics, making it additive, hybrid, sustainable, 3D and wearable. Explore the programme here

Elephantech is developing mass production of multi-layer flexible and rigid PCBs [FPCBs and RPCBs] using inkjet printing. This is an important industry development which enables more sustainable electronic production Slide [1] compares the convention process vs the inkjet printed process, showing how the number of production steps and the amount of material consumed can be reduced since ink-printing enables additive (vs subtractive) manufacture. Note in slide [1] how Elephantech is also developing technology to enable double-sided FPCBs with drilled vias[more on this later] Slide [2] shows how Elephantech is a vertically integrated operation now, covering material development [copper nanoparticles] to ink formulation to inkjet printer development to production of FPCBs in house. The ultimate goal is to be an equipment supplier. However, they will do manufacturing to gain production experience to perfect the process and machinery in the years to come Slide [2] also demonstrated the sustainability of the process, showing that the additive inkjet based process reduces copper and water consumption vs. the traditional etched process by 70% and 95%, respectively whilst reducing the carbon footprint by 75%. These are very important achievements, in particular considering how all major electronics OEMs are now pushing for greener value chains [10% of the CO2 footprint of Apple comes from PCB production!] Slide [3] shows an inkjet printer under development. This is not the final design and many design questions remain open such as number of print heads or the exact choice of piezo-actuated printer suppliers. Slide [4] shows the current achievements. Incredibly, they can directly achieve inkjet printed linewidth-to-spacing [L/S] ratio of 100/100um without the need for any laser ablation or laser finetuning. This is an important achievement which is the result of high optimization between inkjet head, control system, and ink and substrate development. In this process, first a copper nanoparticle ink [50-100 nm particles] is inkjet printed. The Cu nanoparticle solution is specially formulated with surface functionalization [my guess is the substrate PI is also somehow pre-treated] to promote strong adhesion to the surface. The inkjet printed Cu layers are then photosintered using a Xenon or similar lamp. The idea of the activation here is not to achieve high conductivity but to achieve a solid network of deposited copper nanoparticles with strong substrate adhesion which acts as a seed layer. In fact, conductivity is not measured. This is because the formulation of these Cu nanoinks must fulfill different criteria as those aimed at printed electronics. In the recent past, Ag seed layers were used. This important transition is motivated by cost savings. The seed layer is then thickened using electroless plating. Plated copper gives bulk level conductivity and solderability, making it [unlike circuits with printed paste] a drop-in replacement performance-wise As shown in slide [4], a 12um thick copper plated can be achieved. This is a significant advancement vs. the previous achievement of 3um. Importantly, the adhesion remains strong even with a thick plated layer Slide [5] shows how double sided FPCBs can be achieved. Here, a via is drilled into the PI substrate and is then metallized with inkjet printing before being plated. Slide [6] shows the future roadmap. Firstly, the deposited layer will be thickened to 30um to support more PCB options. This needs much better adhesion and must have more optimized interplay between functionalized Cu nanoparticles, substrate surface, and electroless plating process. Next, they will transition from flexible to rigid PCBs and add more layers to the capabilities. These developments will take time and are an engineering challenge, but in the end this is a more sustainable production process yielding high performance PCBs compared to etched PCB production. As such, in the long term, it will have its role in the industry without doubt. Indeed, as shown in slide [7] it is already on the market.

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 copper pastes wont work, and new AJ printable pastes based on tungsten or Mo are needed. At CTTC, an AJ printable tungsten paste compatible with the HTCC process was developed, meaning that it could survive the high temperature sintering [>1000deg C]. This is an important achievement to develop novel high-T inks meeting requirements of HTCC sintering [both metal as well as alumina substrate] as well as AJ printing. As you can see, AJ printing could achieve 30um lines with 6um thickness on the underlying ceramic. The two examples on the right show the realization of surface components as well as embedded components using AJ printing of these materials in HTCC packaging. For the surface components, the different between the two images is that the right image is sintered and gold plated [this explain the color change] AJP is a good process with high resolution but only prints thin lines, and is thus not suited to application handling high currents. For such applications, microdispensing is a better application. In slide [4] SLA was used to print the ceramic parts [alumina] while microdispensing was used to add the in-between conductive layers. Here too a novel paste needed to be developed. In this case, tungsten particles with 1.1um diameter and quasi-spherical grains were used. The paste had 39 vol% with cellulosic binder in aqueous media. It was designed to be dispensed through a 100 um diameter. As seen also in slide [4] complex multi-layer HTCC structure with embedded metallized tracks/circuits were manufactured using this hybrid [SLA+ dispensing with complex high T sintering]. High frequency microstrip responses were also reported.[for on this see the work of J. Raynaud et al] In the future hybridization of the dispensing with fused deposition process will be of importance. It will enable the 3D printing of larger HTCC parts, beyond what SLA allows. Overall, this is an exciting development because it will allow full 3D printing of complex high-T ceramic [HTCC and LTCC] circuits with ever more complex shapes and thus ever more geometry-optimized properties. The automation of such process can also enable mass manufacture and mass customization of such complex geometries, going beyond what was previously considered the limit. Join us and the global industry in Berlin on 17-18 OCT 2023 and LETS RESHAPE Electronics Together, making it Additive, 3D, Hybrid, and Sustainable https://www.techblick.com/electronicsreshaped

Luc Van Neer | CEO & Owner

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

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.

Syenta - an exciting start-up in Australia - is developing an electrochemical multi-material printing platform [digital printing machine + associated materials], addressing several critical shortcomings of traditional printing with particle-based ink/paste systems: bulk-like properties, wide material choice, no post treatment, and excellent z-direction [height] control. Syenta will be exhibiting in Berlin on 17-18 OCT 2023 - join us and the global industry to RESHAPE Electronics, making it Additive, Sustainable, Flexible, 3D and Wearable - learn more https://www.techblick.com/electronicsreshaped An example of their current printer [currently single nozzle with a 40x40 cm2 print area] is shown in slide [1]. The process is based on LEM or Local Electrochemical Modelling. Here, a local plating or electrodeposition takes place when an external controlled electrical potential is applied via the print head to a precursor solution. By control of the applied voltage as well as distances one can control many parameters including print speed, height, and linewidth. As you can in slide [2], this technique can be applied to a wide range of materials, covering conductive metals like copper as well as high viscosity polymers like epoxies and semiconducting materials like MoO3. In this way, it overcomes one of the limitations of particle-based ink systems which is the range of available materials. In slide [3] you can see the achieved conductivity. Given that it is a localized plating process, one achieves very bulk-like properties whereas epoxy based particle-based ink systems fall short especially when cured on low-temperature substrates. Critically, given that this is a plating process, no post treatment like heat/IR/UV curing is needed. This is important because often curing limits print speed and costs in time, equipment, and production floor real estate. In slide [4], you can see the print speed, showing that the print process in the z-direction can be very high - reaching some 100 um per second. This means that - in the case of parallel print heads - high print speeds are possible since layers with sufficient thickness can be built up fast. This is still lower than some cases of DIW [Direct Ink Writing]. However, DIW has high speed when high volumes of inks/paste are deposited without accurate control of linewidth. In slide [5], you can see also that this technique lends itself to very high resolution printing, achieving sub-20 um linewidths with different materials. And finally in slide [6] you can see an example of a printed line with a height of 18um. This is important as most other digital printing techniques offer only thin layers with little ability to extend thickness. This is thus an interesting technology. It is still in development. Of course - as with any emerging technology - there are innovation opportunities. For example, the process works on conductive substrates. Thus enabling the process to deposit on non-conductive substrates [perhaps via lamination/de-lamination process] is of high interest. Or, a magic of ink based formulations is ability to adjust properties such as adhesion to different substrates. Currently, Syenta et al are expanding the box of tricks - at substrate and precursor level - to enable adhesion control on different substrates. Or significant engineering is required to enable multi-layer printing as print parameters[e.g., potential] depends on the conductivity of the underlying layer. Nonetheless, this is a very promising and unique approach, solving a clear set of problems.

Mass manufacturing electronic textiles and in doing so combining textile fibers/garments as well as textile based wiring and sensors with PCB electronics is no easy task. A critical manufacturing challenge here has always been the creation of a reliable high-quality connection between textile wiring/sensors and PCBs/rigid components using a mass manufacturing machine. ZSK has innovated to solve this issue for embroidered electronic textiles. ZSK will be exhibiting in Berlin at TechBlick's event on RESHAPING ELECTRONICS. Please join us and the entire global community on 17-18 OCT 2023. Lear more here https://www.techblick.com/electronicsreshaped Solving the textile-to-PCB connection issue As you can see in slide [1], typically PCBs do not lend themselves well to embroidery of electronics. This is because one often has loose connections, because the high thickness and the sharp edges act as failure points and because the large holes allow movement which loosens the connections. This means that it is not easy to achieve automatic manufacturing with standard PCBs in a reliable way. This is why - as shown in slide [2] - ZSK developed the ZSK E-Tex-Board, which addresses the above mentioned issues, optimizing the board geometry (hole size, smooth edges, thickness, outer line design, etc) for mass embroidered e-textiles combining textiles wiring/sensors with PCBs. As shown in slide [3], these special boards are also compatible with automatic placement machines, enabling a fully automatic manufacturing of e-textiles. This is an important step towards the realization of mass embroidered electronic textiles. These PCBs - together with the ZSK’s F-head for their embroidery machine - enable interesting opportunities. In the F-head, one can embroider the conductive threads with textile/garment to create wiring in the textiles. Using this head, one can also embroider insulating areas as needed, creating cross-overs which vastly improve wiring possibilities in tight spaces. An example of a full system with embroidered conductive threads [wires] as well as crossovers and a stitched PCBs are shown in slide [3], showing how these innovations bring the entire system together, from conductive yarns to insulating to textile garments to PCBs and electronic components like LEDs etc Do NOT forget to join the Festival [Free-to-Attend] on 22 June 2023 https://www.techblick.com/innovation-festival-june-2023 Solving the ecosystem issue ZSK has multiple other embroidery heads for different purposes [K-head for ECG and other sensors based on the moss embroidery and W-head for laying down tubes, fibers etc]. What is however of importance in our view is that they also offer business model innovation They have correctly realized that the e-textile ecosystem is still immature and full of players each offering only a small part of the full system, which makes it very difficult for a potential end user to develop projects. To this end, they have launched 3E Smart Solutions - an in-house engineering team - to help companies develop their ideas, prototype them, find manufacturing partners, etc. This fills an important void and we expect will accelerate the development of this industry Do NOT forget to join the Festival [Free-to-Attend] on 22 June 2023 https://www.techblick.com/innovation-festival-june-2023

Liquid metals never cease to amaze. In e-textiles, they offer the potential to have highly conductive wires that can be washed and highly stretched! One interesting application is in digital embroidery of electronic textiles using liquid metal fibers. Dr. Yong Lin Yong from University of UTah presented some interesting work at a recent TechBlick conference [May 2023]. This work was a collaboration with Prof. @John Ho from National University of Singapore Join us and the global community in Berlin on 17-19 OCT 2023 to RESHAPE the Future of Electronics - explore the world-class agenda, masterclass programme, and expo floor here https://www.techblick.com/electronicsreshaped Here, off-the-shelf PFA is filled with liquid metals using a syringe to form a stretchable conductive thread [600um diameter] which could be embroidered. As seen in slide [1] the resistivity per length is better than most ink or coated conductive thread solutions, although of course bulk Cu metal wires are still more conductive. Theses liquid metal filled conductive threads can then be digitally embroidered using embroidery machines [slide 2] to make, for example, antennas with high Q-factors [slide 3] Slide [3] compares the resistivity of liquid metal filled fibers [M3] against Cu wires [M1] and conductive threads [M2]. Cu wires beat liquid metals in conductivity but fall short on stretchability [see how they break] whilst liquid metals beat conductive threads. Thus liquid metals are a good solution for embroidered electronic textiles where high conductivity and high stretchability are required Washing is also an important criteria for e-textiles. Slide [4] shows that the results, showing that Cu wires can break in washing machines whilst liquid metal filled fibers survive washing machine treatment Slide [5] shows a digital embrioded NFC sensor that actually works. The user had used these sensors on runs. Interestingly the sensors continue to work under contact with water - which is excellent for sensing applications and ease of use. The high conductivity of the liquid metal conductive threads means also a high Q factor for the NFCs In short, liquid metals are a promising solution for e-textiles, ticking many of the requirement boxes including high conductivity, compatibility with embroidery, washability, stretchability, etc. There is much development still to be done - ensuring better cost structure and availability, temperature stability, etc but this is a space to watch Do NOT forget to join the Festival [Free-to-Attend] on 22 June 2023 https://www.techblick.com/innovation-festival-june-2023

Liquid metals are extremely versatile. They are composed of GaIn liquid [Ga and In have melting temperatures of 30C and 157C]. The material has no vapor pressure and has viscosity like water, but with metallic properties. Dr. Michael Dickey from North Carolina State University recently presented interesting results at TechBlick, showing self-healing structures, conductive fibers, stretchable barriers, and filled microfluidic channels using liquid metals. These liquid metals almost instantaneously form a thin [few nm thick] non-conducting GaOx passivating layer which stabilises the structure. The oxide layer can easily be broken [with mechanical force] to form a conductive pattern. As can be seen in slide [2], these materials can be applied to fibers in two ways: filling the fibers/tube or adding the particles to the outer surface of the fiber/thread. In the first approach, a material can be formed with the elasticity of rubber and the conductivity of metal. As shown in slide [3], the conductance changes with strain [up to 500% demonstrated]. Note that the conductivity of the liquid metal itself does not alter with strain, but the cross-section of rubber fiber changes, thus changing overall conductance. As shown in slide [4], to apply these materials to the outer surface, a droplet suspension of liquid metal nanoparticles [100 nm to a few micrometer in diameter] needs to be formed through, for example, sonication. The droplets become stabilized thanks to the presence of the oxide layers again. As shown in slide [5], the fiber can then be dipped several times into the solution and dried. This way, textile threads covered fully with a networking of liquid metal nanoparticles can be formed. At this point, the network of liquid metal nanoparticles is non-conducting due to the presence of oxides. However, with the application of a simple mechanical force, it can be made conductive. These technologies can enable the surface of the textile to be used as the base, for example, for deposition of copper layers. This is a novel approach, although mechanical and thermal stability of the liquid metals on the fibers remains an open question. Join us and the global community in Berlin on 17-19 OCT 2023 to RESHAPE the Future of Electronics - explore the world-class agenda, masterclass programme, and expo floor here https://www.techblick.com/electronicsreshaped Slide [6] shows an interesting application: vacuum filling liquid metals. Here, the polymer material includes microfluidic channels. The entire system is under vacuum, thus the channels are under vacuum too. The liquid droplet is placed atop the structure. At this point, pressure is reintroduced, pushing the liquid metal through the microfluidic channels. This is a unique capability as filling such microchannels is not easily achievable with other materials such as nanoparticle inks or particle filled pastes. Slie [7] shows one of the most interesting applications of liquid metals. Traditionally, polymers are used as packaging but they have poor barrier properties. To compensate, a thin metal coating is generally applied. This improves barrier properties, but renders the hybrid structure [metal+polymer] rigid. A novel solution is to apply liquid metals to the polymer structure, achieving booth good barrier and elasticity properties. This is shown in slide [5], which shows that Liquid Metals can have good permeability [not as good as metals but comparable] whilst not compromising the stretchability of polymers. To demonstrate the utility of this, a stretchy pouch battery was made. As shown in slide [8], the battery with liquid metal based seals, unlike those without liquid metal seals, report no change in mass as a function of time even when stretched. This is an interesting use case in that it opens a new technology for stretchable barrier technology. Do NOT forget to join the Free-to-Attend Festival on 22 June 2023 https://www.techblick.com/innovation-festival-june-2023