Multi-material printing with inline drying/sintering for printed electronics

Topic

© Fraunhofer IKTS
Printed functional layers in electronics: coil array in inkjet multilayer printing (in cooperation with J.A.M.E.S GmbH).
© Fraunhofer IKTS
Aerosol jetprinting for chip contacting.

Fraunhofer IKTS has many years of experience in the field of printed electronics. This includes the synthesis of ceramic and ceramic-compatible materials, their conversion into printable pastes and inks, the requirement-specific design of print layouts, and the implementation of electronic components using various printing processes (screen printing, stencil printing, dispensing and dispense jetting, aerosol jet printing, and inkjet printing). Special technological possibilities for the production of multilayer, hybrid components are offered by a multi-material printer that allows the parallel use of inkjet and aerosol jet printing. Integrated inline drying or sintering technologies as well as various characterization devices allow functional materials to be deposited with high precision and fully cured after each printing process.

The multi-material printer “CeraPrinter-F-Type” has a hybrid material deposition platform in which three inkjet print heads and one aerosol jet print head are installed in combination. This allows complex planar as well as 3D components to be produced from up to four different materials. With the help of a micropositioning system, the production resolution can be adjusted as needed according to the interactions of the printed inks with the substrate. Based on a multi-nozzle manufacturing system, the 3D printer is also capable of operating in a single-nozzle mode with precise positioning of the print. The integrated device for droplet analysis makes it possible to characterize both the droplet output and the deposition or leveling behavior.

During the process, the machine can work with up to three different curing technologies (NIR, UV and photonics), making it easy to adjust exposure time and dose. The post-treatment modules integrated in the printer allow the applied layers to be cured without having to treat the printed components outside the system. In addition, the post-treatment modules can also be used independently from the printing process. Substrates that have been printed with other technologies or devices can be fed into the machine and processed only for the curing step. Photonic drying or sintering using flash lamp technology, which emits high-energy light pulses onto the substrates and thus heats the printed layers to high temperatures without damaging the temperature-sensitive substrate, should be emphasized.

© Fraunhofer IKTS
Multi-material printer with operating unit and control cabinet for photonic sintering.
© Fraunhofer IKTS
Printhead holder and substrate holder.
© Fraunhofer IKTS
Machine-integrated units for drying and photonic sintering.

Technical features of the multi-material printer

 

  • Substrate intake up to 305 mm x 305 mm and up to 50 mm thickness
  • High-precision five axes (three translational axes and two motorized rotations) with adjustable pressure resolution, substrate alignment (+/-2 μm) and nozzle self-calibration (< +/-3 μm)
  • Up to five different print heads for applying a wide range of functional inks
  • Print in grid scan mode (X or Y) or vector mode (XY)
  • Bottom-up approach to importing, editing, simulating, and sequencing the printing of a wide range of printed electronics and smart 3D printing designs with Ceraslice software
  • Three cameras with different light sources for checking the printing behavior, aligning the substrate and analyzing all parts of the printed components
  • Fully integrated and synchronized post-treatment modules (UV, Adphos NIR, Novacentrix PulseForge) for drying and curing printed layers

 

Services offered

 

Cooperation with partners from industry and science in the fields of:

  • Functional printing on low- and high-temperature substrates in flat and 3D geometries
  • Additive manufacturing technology with high-resolution structures for applications in electronics (low and high frequency), microsystems technology and sensor technology