Trends in creating electronics through additive manufacturing

The use of 3D printing technology to build devices with embedded electronics has evolved. In the early days, special 3D printers injected dielectric inks onto a layer of a build, creating electronic traces, to build electronic parts. Nano Dimension was the first company to develop such a system, and it continues to evolve the technology. Today, it offers Additive Manufacturing Electronics (AME).

According to Yoav Stern, CEO at Nano Dimension, the technology of 3D printed electronics is divided between printers that inject inks, such as silver, to create a circuit on the build, and its latest system which prints conductive or dielectric inks onto multiple layers to build a three-dimensional electronic printed circuit board. The AME system adds more polymer and more conductive material layer-by-layer to create a 3D object. “It’s not one layer of circuit. It’s dozens of layers, if not hundreds of layers with vias, with holes, you don’t need to drill holes,” says Stern. The two materials are the dielectric and the conductive. The conductive being a special silver and the dielectric being a polymer. To read more of the story and to listen to Yoav's comments, click here.