Optomec has announced its Aerosol Jet Technology 3-D polymer and composite structures to be printed at the micron scale with embedded electronics. "This breakthrough has significant potential to reduce the cost and size of next-generation products used in the electronics and bio-medical industries," said a company spokesperson.
This new capability is enabled by combining Optomec's Aerosol Jet solution for fine feature printing with a proprietary in-situ curing capability for on-the-fly solidification. "Unlike other high resolution 3-D printing approaches that deposit material globally, i.e.: in a powder bed, and then cure locally to define a pattern, the Optomec method relies on both local deposition and local curing," said a company spokesperson. "This makes the process more economical, in terms of material consumption, but is also key to enabling the highest resolution features."
"This breakthrough in 3-D printing technology extends additive manufacturing to the creation of micron scale, free-form polymer structures and smart devices," said Mike O'Reilly, Optomec Director Aerosol Jet Product Management. "We continue to place emphasis on innovation such as Aerosol Jet 3-D micro-structure printing to address our customer's next generation product development challenges."
Free-form 3-D structures can be printed at the micron-scale, without the need for support structures, from materials including photopolymers and certain composites. Additionally, the resulting structures can be metallized with conformal 3-D conductive traces and printed functional components, such as antennas and sensors, to create fully functional 3-D components all in one manufacturing machine. This direct digital approach optimizes the fabrication process, reducing manufacturing steps and material usage.
Aerosol Jet 3-D micro-structure printing is suited for ultra-high resolutions with lateral features sizes down to 10 microns, and lateral and vertical build resolutions from 1 micron to 100 nanometers respectively. Aspect ratios of more than 100:1 have been achieved. Additionally, such 3-D micro-structures can be printed onto existing components and products, such as semiconductor chips, medical devices or industrial parts.
For more information contact:
Optomec
3911 Singer NE
Albuquerque, NM 87109
505-761-8250
sales@optomec.com
www.optomec.com