Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) are familiar to many people and ubiquitous in use. The evolution of the PCB is the Printed Circuit Structure (PCS), which combines 3D printing and printed electronics, and which nScrypt’s research arm, Sciperio, pioneered in the late 1990s. Applying the advantages of the 3Dn Series 3D manufacturing system, specifically, multimaterial, multi-process manufacturing on a single high-precision platform, nScrypt has demonstrated a number of PCS devices, shown here. The 3Dn platform can be equipped with SmartPump™, nFD™, nPnP (pick and place), and micro-milling tool heads, lasers, scanners, and vision. With this advanced manufacturing capability, the user can transform passive structures into electrically functional structures in one machine.
Starting from a CAD file, the 3Dn Series can print electronics packaging structures, conformally embedding conductive elements, metallics, and dielectrics. The same system can pick and place actives, perform in situ curing using photonic or laser heating, and mill a fine surface finish, with automatic tool changes. The options and processes are open, flexible, and limited only by the imagination of the design engineer.
