The term additive manufacturing (AM) is used to denote the set of manufacturing techniques for the fabrication of 3D objects by means of layer-by-layer addition. AM is an emerging area of great interest both for basic research and the industrial sector. It allows combining a marked versatility in terms of product design, with reduced cost for the materials and related consumption, also allowing an optimal adaptability to mass production manufacturing. The genesis and evolution of AM technologies is enclosed in a short time frame, since during the middle of the 1980s stereolithography emerged as a toll to produce 3D artifacts from templates made of resins. From then on, a great deal of interest in research laboratories has been raised by the bottom-up/top-down deposition of resins and, above all, non-contact writing implemented by liquid precursors, or inks. The fast evolution of ink-based printing techniques in particular strongly impacts the reliability of 3D printed electronic devices fabricated on flexible substrates and wearable platforms. 3D printed electronics requires the use of innovative substrates, mainly based on polymeric compounds, endowed with specific properties, such as flexibility and/or conformability, and depending on the field of application, a biocompatible character is also often required. Printing techniques based on the use of inks require simple processes, low costs, reduced amounts of inks, reduced levels of waste, easy modification by a dedicated 3D modeling software (i.e., the computer-aided design, CAD, software) of the desired device geometry, and, finally, a large set of printable materials onto different substrates. The combination between the above properties and the possibility of implementing a fast prototyping manufacturing of a large variety of artifacts makes printing techniques preferable with respect to photolithographic tools, in the context of both basic research and R&D laboratories. The present chapter deals with the basic principles of inkjet and aerosol-jet printing, which are the most promising printing techniques for the rapid prototyping manufacturing of 3D printed electronics, shedding light onto both their main advantages and drawbacks and presenting some literature examples of electronic device application, with a special reference to bioelectronics.

Direct Writing: Inkjet and Aerosol-Jet Printing

D'Angelo, Pasquale
;
Vurro, Davide
2022

Abstract

The term additive manufacturing (AM) is used to denote the set of manufacturing techniques for the fabrication of 3D objects by means of layer-by-layer addition. AM is an emerging area of great interest both for basic research and the industrial sector. It allows combining a marked versatility in terms of product design, with reduced cost for the materials and related consumption, also allowing an optimal adaptability to mass production manufacturing. The genesis and evolution of AM technologies is enclosed in a short time frame, since during the middle of the 1980s stereolithography emerged as a toll to produce 3D artifacts from templates made of resins. From then on, a great deal of interest in research laboratories has been raised by the bottom-up/top-down deposition of resins and, above all, non-contact writing implemented by liquid precursors, or inks. The fast evolution of ink-based printing techniques in particular strongly impacts the reliability of 3D printed electronic devices fabricated on flexible substrates and wearable platforms. 3D printed electronics requires the use of innovative substrates, mainly based on polymeric compounds, endowed with specific properties, such as flexibility and/or conformability, and depending on the field of application, a biocompatible character is also often required. Printing techniques based on the use of inks require simple processes, low costs, reduced amounts of inks, reduced levels of waste, easy modification by a dedicated 3D modeling software (i.e., the computer-aided design, CAD, software) of the desired device geometry, and, finally, a large set of printable materials onto different substrates. The combination between the above properties and the possibility of implementing a fast prototyping manufacturing of a large variety of artifacts makes printing techniques preferable with respect to photolithographic tools, in the context of both basic research and R&D laboratories. The present chapter deals with the basic principles of inkjet and aerosol-jet printing, which are the most promising printing techniques for the rapid prototyping manufacturing of 3D printed electronics, shedding light onto both their main advantages and drawbacks and presenting some literature examples of electronic device application, with a special reference to bioelectronics.
2022
Istituto dei Materiali per l'Elettronica ed il Magnetismo - IMEM
9783031137785
9783031137792
Direct writing, Inkjet printing, Aerosol-jet printing, 3D printed electronics, Fast prototyping, Bioelectronics, Non-contact printing
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14243/518954
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