Modern electronics demands improved performance, functionality and increased miniaturization. This creates the need for curved surfaces and 3D printed layers that are not flat or of uniform thickness. The challenge is to produce optimized electronic prototypes, embedding the electronics in any shape, in order to authenticate new product designs.
By combining high-resolution conductive and dielectric traces and spaces in a single print job, the DragonFly™ System makes it possible to print a full range of multi-layer PCB features, from intricate geometries to interconnections such as buried vias and plated through holes, seamlessly into multi-layer PCBs for agile product development. The result is a high-quality, densely packed PCB, printed in less than 24 hours, ready for component placement and soldering.
Additive manufacturing of printed electronics solve traditional development challenges in new ways such as enabling compelx geometrics, embedding 3D printed components and shortening the development life cycle.
Case 1
AME (Additively Manufactured Electronic) circuits with functional capacitors produced simultaneously during its manufacturing of PCBs, allow the AME design engineer to reduce the total size of the circuit by using the bulk of the AME and freeing surface area for mounting other PCB components.
The capacitors consist of parallel layers of conductive plates with the AME dielectric in between; see design and actual cross sections to the left. Up to 50 layers of dielectric can be produced, enabling a variety of capacitor values depending not only on the number of layers, but also on the area.
This sample shows an AME featuring 4 capacitors, integrated circuits, resistors, and a USB connector for power. A total of 51 mounted components are soldered either manually or by solder reflow procedures specified by Nano Dimension. One LED oscillates at a specific frequency based on a specific capacitor selected by the switching IC. The selected capacitor is indicated by a stable lighted LED.
| Applications | Integrated AME capacitors, AC line filters, RF low pass filters, RF matching capacitors. |
| Capacitor Design Considerations | Capacitance value defined by number of layers and area of conductive layers. |
| Currently Released Application Capacitance Values | 0.2 nF to 5.0 nF based on varying area and dielectric layer count between 2 to 50 layers. Same dielectric as the rest of the AME. |
| Breakdown Voltage | Greater than 1KV |
| Shown Sample Capacitance Values | 0.2nF ~ 1.6nF by varying the area |
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Case 2
AME (Additively Manufactured Electronic) DC-DC Up Converters are useful to power components, such as LEDs, that need to operate at higher voltages than the nominal operating voltage of the AME.
The most common DC-DC Up Converters are units mounted on a PCB. By producing the device as an integrated part of the AME additive manufacturing process, surface area usage, assembly time, and other overhead costs are reduced.
The AME shown to the left is a 5V to 18V Up Converter powering 4 LEDs. The Up Conversion is achieved with a set of two concentric 20 turns coils manufactured during the additive manufacturing process of the AME. A total of 13 mounted components are soldered either manually or by solder reflow procedures specified by Nano Dimension.
| Applications | In AME DC-DC Voltage Up Converters, display LED lighting in automotive and other industries. |
| Up Voltage Convert Design Considerations | Coil radius, number of layers, and proximity of the two concentric coils. |
| Current Application Voltage Up Convert Value | 5V to 18V |
| Shown Sample Voltage Up Convert Value | 5V to 18V |
| Shown Sample Features | This AME shows the functionality of converting 5V to 18V by powering four LEDs. |
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Case 3
Stacked ICs in an AME (Additively Manufactured Electronic) structure have a higher circuitry density than traditional PCBs by allowing ICs to be mounted and interconnected on top of each other.
The circuit uses a combination of High Density Interconnects (HDI) and vias to enable vertically assembled integrated circuits. Thus mounting of ICs with varying sizes from small to large and reducing the total AME surface area.
Up to 4 ICs that conform to the specific pin layouts can be stacked. Designs can be made for other configurations.
| Applications | High speed logic, any AME that benefits from size reduction by ICs interconnected in three dimensions, IC testing. |
| Shown Sample Features | The shown AME enables the mounting of a small BGA IC at the bottom, followed by two SMT ICs, and at the last layer a BGA IC with 4 rows of BGA contacts. The ICs are interconnected via 8 layers of metallic traces and vias having a shorter distance between them. |
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Case 4
Side mounting of components in AMEs (Additively Manufactured Electronic) enables the use of an area not common for mounting components, resulting in a smaller AME as compared to all components being on the top or on top and bottom of the AME.
Furthermore side mounted components also enable the creation of customized small AMEs that can be inserted into a socket to provide configuration specific functionality to a generic PCB mother board.
This sample shows an AME circuit with components inserted in areas in the bulk of the AME as well as side mounted along the edge of the AME. In both cases contact to the AME traces is accomplished via vertical pad manufactured simultaneously with the electrical traces of the AME and manual soldering. The functionality shown corresponds to two LEDs blinking at different frequencies. Total of 14 mounted components are soldered either manually or by solder reflow procedures specified by Nano Dimension.
| Applications | Powering LEDs for lighting display panels in automotive and other industries where space is tight, including steering wheels. AME miniaturization. |
| Side Mounting Component Size | Any length. Maximum width: height of the AME, two contacts. |
| Inserted Components Size | Any size, multiple contact sizes. |
| Shown Sample Features | This AME has an IC with two timers. Each timer operates one set of resistors, a capacitator, and LED corresponding to the frequency set by the resistor and capacitator – RC constant. One set of resistors, capacitance, and 2 LEDs are side mounted and the other inserted. |
| Printing Time | 12 Boards on a 160mm x 160mm area: 45 hours |
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Case 5
Side mounting of components in AMEs (Additively Manufactured Electronic) enables the use of an area not common for mounting components, resulting in a smaller AME as compared to all components being on the top or on top and bottom of the AME circuit.
In addition, the availability of a battery socket produced during the AME manufacturing process, eliminates the need to purchase this component and the related assembly process, therefore improving reliability and reducing overhead cost.
The AME shows the functionality of these features by using a timer IC and oscillating circuitry to enable a blinking LED. A total of 8 components are soldered in this board.Furthermore, side mounted components also enable the creation of customized small AMEs that can be inserted into a socket to provide configuration specific functionality to a generic PCB mother board by printing corresponding contact pads on the side of the AME.
| Applications | Powering LEDs for lighting display panels in automotive and other industries were space is tight, including steering wheels. AME miniaturization. |
| Side Mounting Component Size | Any length. Maximum width: height of the AME, two contacts. |
| Battery Socket Size | Any size of coin battery per AME needs. |
| Shown Sample Features | This AME has an IC with one timer and two batteries connected in series: The timer operates a set of resistors, a capacitator, and LED corresponding at the frequency set by the resistors and capacitator – RC constant. |
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Case 6
Internet of Things (IoT) and WiFi Hot Access points are widely used for wireless communication and data collection in closed spaces and are now increasingly used in open spaces. To maintain good data integrity, accurate send and receive data signals are required. The AME (Additively Manufactured Electronic) IoT/WiFi access point circuit demonstrates a fully functional device with a tested data transmission and reception accuracy of over 99%.
The high accuracy of the 2.4GHZ data transmission is due to the dielectric properties and the antenna’s tight dimension control enabled by the additive manufacturing technology of the DragonFly LDM system.
| Applications | IoT and WiFi Access Point |
| Design Considerations | Designer should use the dielectric parameters, namely the dielectric constant (Dk) provided in the dielectric ink or design rules |
| Displayed Sample Features |
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| Printing Time | 20 hours (4 samples) |
| Ink Consumption per Board | CI 2.5ml, DI 5.8ml (4 samples) |
