Traditionally, printed circuit assemblies have been fabricated through a combination of imaging and plating-based subtractive processes involving the use of photo exposure followed by baths for plating and etching in order to form the necessary circuitry on rigid and flexible laminates. The emergence of a number of additive technologies presents an opportunity for the development of processes for manufacturing of flexible substrates by utilizing mainstream additive processes. Aerosol-Jet printing is capable of printing lines and spaces below 10 µm in width. The Aerosol-Jet system also supports a wide variety of materials, including nanoparticle inks, screen-printing pastes, conductive polymers, insulators, adhesives, and biological matter. The adoption of additive manufacturing for high-volume commercial fabrication requires an understanding of the print consistency, and electrical mechanical properties. Little literature that addresses the effect of varying sintering time and temperature on the shear strength and resistivity of the printed lines exists. In this study, the effect of process parameters on the resultant line-consistency, and mechanical and electrical properties has been studied. Print process parameters studied include sheath rate, mass flow rate, nozzle size, substrate temperature, and chiller temperature. Properties include resistance and shear load to failure of the printed electrical line as a function of varying sintering time and temperature. The Aerosol-Jet machine has been used to print interconnects. Printed samples have been exposed to different sintering times and temperatures. The resistance and shear load to failure of the printed lines has been measured. The underlying physics of the resultant trend was then investigated using elemental analysis and scanning electron microscopy. The effect of line-consistency drift over prolonged runtimes has been measured for up to 10 hours of runtime. The printing process efficiency has been gauged as a function of the process capability index (Cpk) and process capability ratio (Cp). Printed samples were studied offline utilizing optical Profilometry in order to analyze the consistency within the line width, height, and resistance, and shear load to study the variance in electrical and mechanical properties over time.
Printing technologies such as Aerosol Jet provides the freedom of miniaturizing interconnects and producing fine pitch components. Aerosol Jet, a direct printing technique replaces the traditional steps of manufacturing a printed circuit board such as lithography or etching, which are quite expensive, and further allowing the circuits to be fabricated onto all kinds of substrates. Wide impact areas range from healthcare to wearables to future automotive applications. The aerosol jet printer from Optomec utilized in this study, consists of two types of atomizers depending on ink viscosity. One is Ultrasonic Atomizer which supports ink with viscosity range of 1–5cP, and another is Pneumatic Atomizer with large range of suitable viscosity 1–1000cP. This paper focuses on utilizing the aerosol jet printing using both the atomizers to develop process parameters to be able to successfully print bi-material, multi-layer circuitry. The insulating material between two conductive lines used in the paper is of very high viscosity of 350cP, suitable for Pneumatic atomizer and Silver Nano-particle ink with the viscosity suitable for Ultrasonic atomizer as a conductive ink. A statistical modeling approach is presented to predict the attributes such as micro-via diameter before starting the print process, enabling us to pre-adjust the dimensions in CAD for the desired output. Process parameters to obtain a fine print with good electrical properties and better dimensional accuracy are developed. Importance of pre-cleaning the substrate is discussed, in addition to the printing process efficiency gauged as a function of process capability index and process capability ratio.
Printing technologies, such as aerosol-jet, open possibilities of miniaturizing interconnects and designing circuits on nonplanar surfaces. Aerosol-jet is a direct-printing technique that provides an alternative manufacturing option to traditional subtractive methods that entail lithography or etching. Additionally, the aerosol-jet technique allows the circuits fabrication using noncontact method. Wide impact areas range from healthcare to wearables to future automotive applications. The aerosol-jet printer from Optomec utilized in this study consists of two types of atomizers, depending on ink viscosity. The ultrasonic atomizer, supports ink with a viscosity range of 1–5 cP, and the pneumatic atomizer that has a larger range of 1–1000 cP. This paper focuses on utilizing the aerosol-jet technique, using both atomizers to develop process parameters, in order to successfully print bimaterial, multilayer circuitry. The insulating material between two conductive lines used in the paper is of very high viscosity of 350 cP, which is suitable for the pneumatic atomizer and silver nanoparticle ink with comparatively low viscosity of 30 cP for the ultrasonic atomizer as a conductive ink. This paper also presents a statistical modeling approach that predicts line attributes, including microvia-diameter, before starting the print process, enabling us to pre-adjust the dimensions in computer-aided design for the desired output. Process parameters can obtain a fine print with satisfactory electrical properties, which develops improved dimensional accuracy. The importance of precleaning the substrate in addition to the printing process efficiency gaged as a function of process capability index and process capability ratio is also presented.
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