Hylke Akkerman | Holst Centre: How do you interconnect a 50-micron bare die using 3D-printed photopolymers?
00:06:46 - 00:08:30
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Summary of the clip:
How do you interconnect a 50-micron bare die using 3D-printed photopolymers?
Integrating bare silicon dies directly into printed packages requires extreme vertical and horizontal precision to prevent interconnect failure. Holst Centre demonstrates this by embedding a 50-micron-thick silicon chip into a pre-patterned cavity within a transparent resin. The photolithographic tool predefines 60-micron via contacts and 20-micron wide routing grooves directly over the die.
Rather than relying on slow, high-resolution dispensing systems, the team uses a squeegee method to flood-fill the entire layer with conductive silver paste in parallel. This approach fills the micro-vias and traces simultaneously, achieving reliable electrical contact with low contact resistance. This demonstrates a path toward high-yield, additive multi-die packaging.
In this short video, you can learn:
* The mechanical step-by-step process of placing and interconnecting a 50-micron-thick bare die.
* Why squeegee-based stencil filling outperforms traditional line-by-line dispensing for micro-traces.
* How to achieve sub-20-micron trace resolutions by tuning photopolymer layer thickness.
📋 **Clip Abstract** This segment details the embedding and metallization of a 50-micron bare silicon chip using printed photopolymers. By using stencil-like paste filling over photodefined vias, the process successfully routes 20-micron traces directly to die pads.
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#BareDieEmbedding, #SqueegeeMetallization, #DirectDieInterconnect, #PhotopolymerVias, #HeterogeneousIntegration, #AdditivePackaging
This is a highlight of the presentation:
3D Microelectronics Without Limits: High Resolution Printing for the Next Generation of Integration
Future of Electronics RESHAPED USA 2026
10-11 June 2026
Computer History Museum, Mountain View, California, USA
Organised By:
TechBlick
More Highlights from the same talk.
00:04:59 - 00:06:44
Can stereolithography print 3D microelectronics down to 10-micron resolution?
Can stereolithography print 3D microelectronics down to 10-micron resolution?
Traditional stereolithography uses a vat of resin, which presents material handling and processing limitations when integrating delicate electronic components. Holst Centre’s foil laminated stereolithography solves this by coating a photosensitive polymer onto a transparent carrier foil. This film is brought into contact with the substrate, patterned using a maskless UV projector, and built up layer-by-layer without traditional liquid vat drawbacks.
Once a layer is selectively cured, the process creates high-precision cavities and grooves directly in the photopolymer. These micro-structures are then filled in parallel with conductive metal paste using a stencil-like scraping process. This decouples the trace resolution from the dispensing tool, relying instead on the photolithographic precision of the polymer itself.
In this short video, you can learn:
* How foil laminated stereolithography bypasses the challenges of traditional vat-based additive manufacturing.
* The role of maskless UV light engines in defining 10-to-20-micron microelectronic features.
* Why decoupling deposition from dispensing enables parallelized, high-throughput metal circuitry patterning.
📋 **Clip Abstract** Hylke Akkerman introduces Holst Centre's proprietary foil laminated stereolithography process for high-resolution 3D microelectronics. By utilizing a transparent carrier foil and photopolymer patterning, this method reliably achieves 20-micron routing resolutions and eliminates the need for slow dispensing systems.
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#FoilLaminatedStereolithography, #MasklessPhotolithography, #AdditiveMicroelectronics, #ConductivePasteScraping, #AdditiveManufacturingElectronics, #PrintedElectronics
00:14:55 - 00:16:09
How do you pack ultrasound transducers and ASICs into a 6mm catheter tip?
How do you pack ultrasound transducers and ASICs into a 6mm catheter tip?
Integrating active electronics onto curved, ultra-miniaturized surfaces like catheter tips is historically one of the hardest challenges in medical device packaging. Standard flat PCB processing cannot handle the tight 3D cylindrical geometries of a 6-to-7-millimeter diameter ring. In collaboration with Philips, Holst Centre applied 3D microelectronics printing to integrate ultrasound transducer arrays and driving ASICs directly onto curved medical tips.
The multi-layer additive design routes complex interconnects from the transducer points to the control ASICs across multiple curved printed layers. This approach bypasses standard flexible circuit limitations, demonstrating how 3D-printed lithography can build highly integrated smart medical devices that are physically impossible to manufacture with traditional methods.
In this short video, you can learn:
* The engineering challenges of integrating active transducer arrays and ASICs onto cylindrical surfaces.
* Why traditional flexible PCBs fail in ultra-small, high-density catheter applications.
* How multi-layer additive 3D routing enables circular packaging of medical sensors.
📋 **Clip Abstract** Hylke Akkerman shares a collaborative project with Philips focused on embedding ultrasound transducers and ASICs inside a 6-7mm catheter tip. The presentation illustrates how 3D-printed lithography enables complex multi-layer routing on highly curved geometries where traditional packaging fails.
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#3DPrintedLithography, #MultiLayerAdditiveRouting, #CatheterPackaging, #ASICIntegration, #AdditiveElectronics, #MedTechPackaging