© 2013 Rockwell Collins All rights reserved. Accelerating Industrial Application of Additive Manufacturing for Printed Electronics December 3, 2013 Curt

© 2013 Rockwell Collins All rights reserved.

Accelerating Industrial Application of Additive Manufacturing for Printed Electronics

December 3, 2013Curt Anderson, Ph.D., Rockwell CollinsJames Finn, International TechneGroup Inc.


Contributing Organizations

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Introduction

• Printed Electronics (PE) is poised to become game changing Additive Manufacturing (AM) solution

• PE can augment or replace existing manufacturing steps– Reduced cost– Increased flexibility– Unique designs– Reduce waste

• Recent technology advancements enhance PE– Materials (Nano particle)– Print tools– Process tools


Definition of Terms

• Additive Manufacturing (AM)

Mechanical or Passive Components3D Construct of a Single MaterialMechanical Requirements Define FunctionExamples: Turbine Blade, Lever, Spring, etc.

Active Components3D Construct of Multiple MaterialsCombination of Mechanical and Materials Interactions Define the FunctionExamples: Electronic Circuit, Solar Cell, Fuel Cell, etc.


Definition of Terms

• Printed Electronics (PE)

Low Profile (2D), Planar Substrate, High VolumeGravure, Offset, FlexographicR2R on flexible substratesExamples: LED lighting, Solar Cells, Displays, etc.

Low Profile (2D), Planar Substrate, Medium VolumeScreen, Ink Jet, Needle DispenseExamples: Surface Mount, Touch panels, Underfill, etc.

High Profile (3D), Non Planar Substrates, Low VolumeAerosol Jet®, DispenseJet, Needle/Orifice DispenseExamples: Conformal Circuits, Antennas, etc.

Aerosol Jet® (AJ)


Why AM/PE?

• Cost• SWaP• Capabilities• Customization• Uniqueness• Rapid Prototype

Ernst, J. (2011). High Volume Production of All-Printed Rewritable Memory. SemiCon West. SemiCon


Printed Electronics Market

IDTechEx. (2011). Retrieved September 7, 2011, from IDTechEx: www.idtechex.com


Early Defense Applications

• Antennas• Interconnects• Embedded Passives• Complex Circuitry

Plourde, R. (2011, February 10). Aerosol Jet Deposition Technology & Applications. Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA: Optomec


PE Circuit Including Standard Components

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Definition of Problem

• Complex designs use CAD tools• Translation of CAD to machine print

tools is weak or non-existent– Current translation technology is

designed for subtractive tools• PE translation is complex due to

electrical, material and mechanical interactions– Example: printed resistor (what controls

the design/translation?)• Multiple print tools not supported• Standards (file format/rules) don’t

exist


Future State Vision

• Design PE using CAD systems• Automatic translation of CAD data to AM tools• PE manufactured in-line using various tools• Supported by Industry (Easy to learn/transfer)

Hypothetical R2R manufacturing of near field communication sensors

Uwe Partsch, S. M. (2011, September 13). Materials and Applications for Aerosol Jet Printed Functional Layers. Dresden, Germany: Optomec


CAD Translation Process Vision


Ink Jet Versus Aerosol Jet®

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Script Editor Sandbox


Design Rules

• PE design rules are different• Available electronic CAD systems follow PCB

design rules

Substrate Substrate

Standard Vertical Via Beveled Via

Metallic Conductors

PCB Design PE Design


Demonstration of a Printed Crossover

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Multiple Materials• Translate multiple types of materials from CAD design• Sequencing

– Layering (i.e., similar to 3D printers)– Material dependent (sequence to specific print tool)

• Materials properties effects– Sintering temperature, solvent composition, drying time– Affected by print speed, co-solvents, pressure– Targeted electrical properties

Frisbie, C. D. (2012, May). New Materials for Printed Polymer Electronics. Minneapolis, MN, USA: University of Minnesota

Printed Transistors


Example: Conductive Materials Properties

• Wide range of conductivity• Resultant conductivity

– Affected by dispense or print method

– Affected by post print processing

• Vendor variation• Lot to lot variation• Intellectual property

constraints

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Source: NanoMas Technologies, Inc


Filling Algorithms and Symbol Library

• Fill patterns impact the electrical performance of a printed component.

• Symbol library used to advance the CAD translation to machine code

Panhalkar, et al., “A Novel Additive Manufacturing File Format For Printed Electronics”, Proceedings of the ASME 2013 International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition, IMECE2013, Nov. 13-21, 2013, San Diego, CA USA


Motion Control Programming

• Available CAD motion control languages have subtractive manufacturing concepts.

• PE require additive manufacturing concepts

• Standard File Format as an intermediate data neutral prior to machine code generation


Adaptive Pattern Matching

• Printing surface can warp, twist, stretch (+/-) and bend with part-to-part rotation.

• Optical pattern recognition and adaptive on- the-fly print adjustments

Design Rotation Stretch (+) Skew


Sustainability (Subtractive Versus Additive)

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• Direct write reduces the number of process steps

• Less waste– Uses high percentage of

material– Removal of steps that

generate large amounts of waste (developing/etching/plating)

• Less toxicity in waste– Plating waste– Etchants


Other Considerations

• Technology Transfer – Course work– PEOS (on-line, open

source)

• Training Centers


Summary

• A team was formed to accelerate the additive manufacturing of printed electronics

• A future state vision was created• Translation of CAD to machine code was identified as a major

deficiency in the current technology state• The team is proposing and executing research to advance the

CAD to machine code translation technology

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Contact InformtionContact information

Jim Finn – International TechneGroup Inc. - [email protected]

Mike O’Reilly – Optomec, Inc. – [email protected]

Curtis Anderson - Rockwell Collins – [email protected]

Dennis Thompson – SCRA – [email protected]

Susan Moehring – TechSolve, Inc. – [email protected]

Sam Anand – University of Cincinnati – [email protected]

Documents

© 2013 Rockwell Collins All rights reserved. Accelerating Industrial Application of Additive Manufacturing for Printed Electronics December 3, 2013 Curt