Holst Centre and NocaCentrix partner to advance photonic curing

 

Holst Centre, an open-innovation R&D centre based in The Netherlands, and NovaCentrix, an US based producer of printed electronics manufacturing technologies, have announced a partnership to advance the study and application of photonic curing technologies.

Under the new collaboration, Holst Centre will add a NovaCentrix PulseForge 1300 tool to its research facility for photonic sintering where it will be used by researchers from Holst Centre and its ecosystem of industrial partners. NovaCentrix hopes that insight into the sintering process gained from these experiments and in-situ measurement techniques developed at Holst Centre will enable it to improve equipment simulations and process control. According to the partners the ultimate goal is to support application development and manufacturing of printed and flexible electronics devices.

Sintering turns patterns of metallic inks into conductive structures and is a key technique in the production of printed electronics. Photonic curing dries, sinters and anneals materials using intense bursts of light. According to the experts at Holst Centre it is much faster and works at lower bulk temperatures than conventional thermal methods. This makes it ideal for use with plastic substrates in high-volume roll-to-roll processes for affordable printed electronics applications.