3D printed semiconductors

What's Possible Now and in the Future?

Ziv Cohen

Application Manager, Nano Dimension

The semiconductor industry gets a lot of attention—and for good reason. Integrated circuits make technology possible, and these devices are built on the back of semiconductors.

Semiconductor manufacturing processes have come a long way since Robert Noyce invented the integrated circuit in 1959. With the rise of Industry 4.0 and the wide array of additive manufacturing processes, one naturally wonders whether the electronics industry will advance to 3D printing integrated circuits at full scale.

In this discussion, the question naturally arises: Why use additive manufacturing processes to produce integrated circuits? 3D printing is already being used to produce fully-functional PCBs with unique geometry, interconnect architecture, and various levels of component embedding. The ability to 3D print integrated circuits and other semiconductor devices directly into a PCB allows low-volume fabrication of highly specialized devices with unique form factor and capabilities.

IC dies on a silicon wafer

The Current State of 3D Printing Integrated Circuits

Silicon, III-V, and II-VI semiconductor manufacturing processes are highly advanced and are used to produce integrated circuits with less than 10 nm gate sizes. Currently, the most advanced 3D printing processes provide near micron-level resolution and co-deposition of multiple materials.

Co-deposition is critical for 3D printing integrated circuits because conductors and semiconducting materials must be printed simultaneously. The resolution of the most advanced 3D printing systems must still improve before VLSI is possible. In addition to improving device performance, miniaturization will provide much lower power consumption for switching logic gates.

As an example of what is currently possible with 3D printing integrated circuits, researchers at the Air Force Research Laboratory and American Semiconductor recently 3D printed microcontroller SoCs from polymers on a flexible silicon substrate. These microcontroller units offer 7000x memory compared to other flexible integrated circuits at the time. Some envisioned applications include environmental or strain sensing, as well as munitions inventory monitoring.

A flexible microcontroller integrated circuit. This circuit was fabricated using polymers on silicon.

Currently, thin-film transistors (TFTs), diodes, LEDs, can be 3D printed from organic polymers with commercially available and experimental systems. The 3D-printed TFTs can have various contact/gate configurations and can easily be scaled horizontally and vertically. Polymers can be easily doped and functionalized, allowing their electronic and optical properties to be tuned to meet the demands of different devices.

Using polymers on a semiconductor wafer is a natural route to pursue 3D printing integrated circuits. Electrical contacts can already be deposited in an additive manner through a mask (i.e., thermal evaporation, PVD, or CVD), followed by deposition of semiconducting polymers and larger conductive tracks with a 3D printer. Their adaptability to low-temperature processes also makes them ideal for 3D printing integrated circuits directly on standard semiconductor wafers.

Other researchers are working on advancing additive manufacturing processes and materials to enable 3D printing integrated circuits. As an example, the University of Hamburg and Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron developed a 3D printing process that can enable the fabrication of integrated circuits. This process uses a mesh of ~20 nm silver nanowires as conductive elements and a thin film of polymer as an insulator or semiconducting material. This process is still in the research phase, but it illustrates how unique nanostructures can be used to fabricate semiconductor devices that rival silicon integrated circuits.

The Economics of 3D Printing Integrated Circuits

In any manufacturing process, the cost structure involved in manufacturing is an important driver of the price of a finished device. Integrated circuits succeed or fail based on the cost of the die on the wafer—when more dies can be placed on a single wafer, the costs per device decreases. The cost structure of integrated circuit manufacturing is responsible for the high costs of highly specialized, low-volume integrated circuits. An excellent example can be found in the defense industry, where the cost of a single FPGA for a complex system can reach tens of thousands of dollars.

The unique cost structure of 3D printed devices changes this economic dynamic. 3D printed integrated circuits do not need to be produced on a wafer and can even be manufactured individually. Because 3D printed devices can be produced with predictable fabrication time, and the cost structure is complexity agnostic, the costs involved in 3D printing electronics depends on the weight of the materials used. This makes 3D-printed integrated circuits highly cost competitive for low-volume production compared to devices produced on semiconductor wafers with standard processes.

Challenges in 3D Printing Integrated Circuits

Commercially available printers are becoming more advanced, and the range of materials useful with these systems is expanding. That being said, there are still some challenges in 3D printing integrated circuits with the same level of performance as integrated circuits on monolithic circuits. These challenges involve finding rigid semiconducting materials that can be adapted to a standard 3D printing process, optimizing these materials for different frequency bands, and bringing printing resolution closer to the nanometer level.

A lithographic process may aid in 3D printing integrated circuits with less than one-micron resolution.

The fact losses and parasitics can be optimized in a variety of polymers for specific frequency bands allows these materials to compete with GaN, which is currently the best option for fabricating RF integrated circuits and SoCs. GaN is currently used in the best SoCs for high-frequency radar modules, as well as in power amplifiers for microwave and mmWave signal chains. Polymers are already used to 3D print substrates for building flexible and nonplanar PCBs, so it is natural to extend these materials to integrated circuits and other semiconductor devices.

To increase the printing resolution, the additive manufacturing industry may need to devise a completely new printing process. Currently, inkjet 3D printing provides among the highest resolution features for 3D printing PCBs, but it remains to be seen if this process can be improved to provide resolution less than 1 micron.The future of 3D printing integrated circuits will likely adapt a photolithography process or functional self-assembly process to produce integrated circuits with competitive resolution.

Innovative companies that are interested in 3D printing integrated circuits and fully-functional PCBs need an additive manufacturing system designed for full-scale production of complex electronics. The DragonFly LDM system from Nano Dimension is ideal for in-house full-scale PCB fabrication of complex electronics with a planar or non-planar architecture. Designers can embed standard components and can experiment with 3D-printed integrated circuits. Read a case study or contact us today to learn more about the DragonFly LDM system.

3d printing | 3D printing applications

Ziv Cohen

Application Manager, Nano Dimension

Ziv Cohen has both an MBA and a bachelor’s degree in physics and engineering from Ben Gurion University, as well as more than 20 years of experience in increasingly responsible roles within R&D. In his latest position, he was part of Mantis Vision team—offering advanced 3D Content Capture and Sharing technologies for 3D platforms. The experience that he brings with him is extensive and varied in fields such as satellites, 3D, electronic engineering, and cellular communications. As our Application Manager, he’ll be ensuring the objectives of our customers and creating new technology to prototype and manufacture your PCBs.

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Researchers 3D print a prototype of a bionic eye on a

printer

29.08.2018 15:25

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Research team from the University of Minnesota for the first time with 3 D - printer printed many light receptors on a hemispherical surfaces. This discovery marks a significant step towards creating a "bionic eye" that will someday help blind people to see, and sighted people to see better, writes sciencedaily.com with reference to Advanced materials.

“Bionic eyes are considered science fiction, but now, using a multi-factor 3D printer, we are closer to goals than ever,” said Michael McAlpin, co-author research and the University of Minnesota.

The scientists started with a hemispherical glass dome to show how they can overcome the problem of printing electronics on curved surface. Using their 3D printer, they started with base ink on silver particles. Distributed ink stay in place and dry evenly rather than dripping down curved surface. The researchers then used semiconductor polymer materials for printing photodiodes, that convert light into electricity. The whole process took about an hour. nine0006

McAlpin said the most amazing part of the process was what they were able to achieve with fully 3D printed semiconductors 25 percent efficiency in converting light into electricity.

“We have a long way to go before we start regular printing active electronics, but our 3D printed semiconductors are now prove that they can potentially compete on efficiency with semiconductor devices manufactured with microfabrication equipment, McAlpin said. - Also, unlike them, we can easily print semiconductor device on a curved surface. nine0006

McAlpin and his team are known for integrating 3D printing, electronics and biology on a single platform. Some years ago they gained international attention by printing bionic ear. Since then, they have had three-dimensional printed artificial organs for surgical practice, electronic tissue that can serve as "bionic skin" a device for arm movement, as well as cages and scaffolds that can help people living with spinal cord injuries restore some functionality. nine0006

However, the creation of a bionic eye is something more personal.

"My mother is blind in one eye, and whenever I speak to her about her work, she asks, “When are you going to print me a bionic eye?" McAlpin shared.

In his opinion, the next steps are to create a prototype with lighter but more efficient receptors. The second task is to find a way to print on soft hemispherical material that can be implanted in a real eye. nine0006

[Photo: sciencedaily.com]

3D printer bionic eye bionic ear vision printed organs

Source: www.sciencedaily. com

Information provided by the Information Agency "Scientific Russia". Mass media registration certificate: IA No. ФС77-62580, issued Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Communications on July 31, 2015. nine0006

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American scientists 3D printed a prototype of a bionic eye

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Scientists from the University of Minnesota have demonstrated a prototype of a bionic eye with electronics printed on a 3D printer. nine0006

The new work is a continuation of research on 3D printed electronics with an eye on biological integration by a research team led by University of Minnesota Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Michael McAlpine. The previous experiment involved 3D printing electronics over skin ( in the illustration below ) using a modified Anycubic Kossel 3D printer, with the experimental system proving to be able to compensate for involuntary movements of the test subject during printing through a combination of 3D scanning and machine vision. The inspiration for the new experiment was the supervisor's mother, who lost sight in one of her eyes. The team decided to find out if a functional prosthesis could be printed. nine0006

“Bionic eyes are usually seen as something out of science fiction, but now, thanks to multi-material 3D printing, we are closer than ever to turning the idea into reality. We have a long way to go before additive manufacturing of active electronics becomes commonplace, but our 3D printed semiconductors show great potential and the ability to achieve efficiency on par with conventional semiconductor electronics. In addition, we can easily print semiconductor devices on curved surfaces, which mass electronics manufacturers can't do,” says McAlpine. nine0006

The device shown consists of a transparent hemisphere, internally lined with polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film. On top of the film, the researchers printed an array of photodetectors, each consisting of five layers—a silver-based conductive ink, then a transparent and flexible conductive PEDOT:PSS anode, a P3HT:PCBM photoactive polymer blend, an insulating silicone layer, and a liquid gallium cathode. indium alloy. The effectiveness of the prototype surprised the developers themselves: the ratio of the photocurrent at the external leads to the number of incident photons reaches 25.3%. Of course, the prototype is very primitive, but the team intends to continue experimenting with flexible and biocompatible substrates towards increasing the number of elements in the array and, if successful, creating the first true functional prosthetic eye. The report of the scientific team is published at this link. nine0006

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Scientists from the University of Minnesota have demonstrated a prototype of a bionic eye with electronics printed on a 3D printer. nine0006

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