A New Process Enables Rapid 3D Printing of Electronics
To improve the practicality of 3D printing electronics, engineers from UCLA have developed a new printing process that is very fast.
Virtually every electronic device produced since the 1970s contains a printed circuit board (PCB). A PCB essentially replaces old school point-to-point wiring, with the traces on the PCB acting as the wires. This dramatically improves manufacturing efficiency, while also improving reliability and repeatability. The downside is that PCBs are almost always flat, rigid boards, and that limits the shape of the devices built around them. Functional three-dimensional circuits could provide a lot more design flexibility. To improve the practicality of 3D printing electronics, engineers from the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering have developed a new printing process that is very fast.
It’s not a new idea to 3D print electronics, and you can even do it right now if you have a printer that can work with at least two materials in a single print job. The problem is that it’s very inefficient. It has the same problem as 3D printing in general, which is that it is time consuming to build up a part layer by layer. Even small parts can easily take hours to 3D print, which is far too inefficient to replace PCBs in consumer electronics. This process makes it possible to add electronic traces to the surface of just about any 3D object.
The process starts by with an optical 3D printer, which is used to impart a pre-programmed pattern of electrostatic charges onto a part’s surface. The pattern can be anything, but in this case it’s the traces and contact points of an electronic circuit. Printing those takes just a few minutes. The 3D part is then placed in a specially formulated solution that contains dissolved conductive material, like copper. The electrostatic charge on the part attracts the conductive material and causes it to cling to the traces. After enough conductive material has adhered to the traces, the part can be removed. Various electronic components can then be attached to the 3D circuit. The process is quick enough to be practical, and could make it practical to manufacture electronic devices in exciting new forms.