TechBlick to discuss innovation and market trends in printed, hybrid and InMould electronics

 

TechBlick's upcoming interactive online conference and exhibition taking place on 10-11 March 2021 will highlight promising innovation and market trends in Printed, Hybrid, and InMould Electronics. The compelling speaker line-up includes leading global organisations such as JCDecaux, GE Research, Fiat, Jones Healthcare, Geely Design, SWAROVSKI, Jabil, Eastman Kodak, Coatema, Suunto, Evonik, Heraeus, Fujikura Kasei, Information Mediary Corp, Copprint, ChemCubed,, Nano Dimension, Novacentrix, Neotech, Optomec, TactoTek, Arburg, Covestro, InnovationLab, PolyPhotonix, LPKF, Lightworks, NRCC, and many more.

TechBlick organises LIVE online conferences at approximately four-week intervals. Each conference will consist of approx. 40 speakers organised as two LIVE sessions. With a single annual pass, participants can access past and future events as well as masterclasses. Upcoming events include:

  • 10 & 11 March: Printed, Flexible, Hybrid, and InMold Electronics (I)
  • 14 & 15 April: Graphene, 2D Materials, and Carbon Nanotubes
  • 11 & 12 May: Printed, Flexible, Hybrid, and InMold Electronics (II)
  • 11 & 12 May: Quantum Dots: Material Innovation and Emerging Applications
  • 15 & 16 June: Innovations and Trends in Displays and Lighting: OLEDs, Flexible, Printed, microLED, and beyond
  • 14 & 15 July: Skin Patches, Wearables, E-Textiles, and Stretchable Electronic

Electronic Packaging and Printed Electronics

The semiconductor and the electronic packaging industries are booming. The most common use has been in vias, especially thermal vias, filled with conductive, i.e., mainly Cu, pastes. Another growing use case is the adoption of sintered metal die attach materials (e.g., Ag or Cu), especially in high power applications such as SiC power electronics or GaN power amplifiers in 5G.

There is a worldwide push nowadays to replace PVD (sputtering) with spray or inkjetted conformal EMI coatings. These paste-based PVD-alternatives show much higher throughput per hour and a much lower upfront capital cost. Today, the inks have improved adhesion, lower thickness to reduce cost and show laser markings, better top-to-side coating uniformity, etc.

Aerosol is also targeting electronic packaging. It can replace long wire bonds with shorter interconnects, driving down parasitic inductive and thus boosting performance at high RF frequencies.

Last but not the least, printing is being used to prototype redistribution layers (RDL). If and when coupled with emerging ultrahigh resolution printing techniques, this can become an excellent RDL-prototyping tool, potentially event meeting the pitch and linewidth requirements.

Semi-additive processes are also playing a part. Laser direct structuring (LDS) can enable selective metallization atop epoxy mould compounds, enabling antenna-on-package for mmWave packages as well as area-selective package-level EMI shielding.

TechBlick's interactive online conference and exhibition on 10-11 March 2021 covers these trends in detail. Here, the invited speakers cover all these trends and include Fujikura Kasei, Heraeus, LPKF, Nano Dimension, Optomec, Kuprion, and others.

InMould Electronics: Major success not far off

InMould Electronics has a compelling value proposition: combining two high throughput processes to structurally integrate electronics into 3D parts. This process has been in development for over a decade. The learning curve in terms of material, process, and application development has been steep. Nonetheless, applications have already appeared on the market and adoption in interior and exterior of automotive is not far off.

The material set is arguably ready. Many offer an IME-compatible portfolio of pastes including conductive inks, dielectrics and overpasses, graphic inks, conductive adhesives, and so on. Polycarbonate is the incumbent material of choice, but PET is also receiving good attention when lower costs and low formability are required. Process development has also come a long way. The yields have now improved and the prototype-to-volume production know-how now exists.

In TechBlick’s virtual interactive conference and exhibition on 10-11 March 2021 you will hear live from all the key players including end users from the automotive and consumer electronic sectors (FIAT, Geely, Suunto), process developers and mass producers (TactoTek and Arburg), substrate and lighting developers (Covestro, Lightworks), and IME-compatible transparent heater and touch sensor providers (Canatu).

PCB printing and 3D printed electronics

PCB printing and 3D printing are both hot topics. TechBlick highlights this trend by giving multiple examples. Voltera has designed a desktop-sized all-in-one solution. Here, the digitally-control printer lays down the solderable conductive traces to metallize the board. The system will map the location of solder pads and dispense the solder. The SMDs are then mounted before the tool reflows the solder.

Nano Dimension offers a turnkey solution. It digitally prints Ag nanoparticles as well as dielectric photopolymers. By alternating between these two layers, it can build multi-layer circuits or PBCs on non-flat substrates. It is increasingly positioned as a platform technology that can be used in rapid prototyping and low-volume production of PCBs, electronic circuits, and beyond.

Nano Dimension raised more than $650M in Q4 2020. This will give the company the war chest needed to develop or acquire technologies that will sustain its technology roadmap and in particular increase the throughput and improve the cost position of its 3D PCB printers.

ChemCubed is a U.S. based manufacturer of materials and printing solutions for 3D printing / Additive Manufacturing. Their turnkey Electrojet 3D printer can digitally print Ag inks and UV curable dielectronic and do inline heat and UV curing. Their machine offers 1440 dpi resolution with an 8-channel inkjet, enabling simultaneous multi-material, multi-layer printing of electronic circuits and components.

Neotech AMT GmbH is a leading player developing 3D printed electronic machines. They have developed a 5-axis motion control system enabling complex 3D printing. Their equipment portfolio covers the full range from rapid prototyping to high volume production.

All these firms will be presenting at TechBlick's interactive online conference and exhibition on 10-11 March 2021.

Caption: Examples of IME products and prototypes (photo: www.techblick.com)

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