Integrated Additive Manufacturing: Combining Mechanical and Electrical Functionality

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The goal of this research program is to create new manufacturing technology integrating the two distinct additive manufacturing technologies 3D printing and printed electronics. This will enable the additive manufacturing of systems with both mechanical and electrical functionality with advantages such as low cost, customizability and large area coverage with electronic components. As a demonstration case, we will focus on the printing of transistors onto 3D printed substrates, which has not been done before. Transistors are technologically important for many applications and they are a good testbed for any new microfabrication technology. Transistors require the printing of three different materials (metal, semiconductor and dielectric). They require both high-resolution printing of metal electrodes and uniform, defect-free thin films for the semiconductor and gate dielectric. A main challenge will be to overcome the large roughness of 3D printed surfaces. We will achieve this by a combination of modeling and optimization of the 3D printing process, printing a smoothing interlayer by spray coating and adjusting the electronics pattern to be printed on top of the 3D printed surface. We will also study how to optimally print onto surfaces with intentional 3D structure such as curvature and inclined surfaces. Fully inkjet-printed organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) will be implemented first on traditional plastic film substrates. State-of-the-art ternary blend materials will be used for the first time in a fully-printed structure. This will considerably increase performance beyond the current limits for fully-printed OTFTs. The efforts discussed so far will run mostly in parallel. Finally, they will be integrated to print transistors on 3D printed surfaces. Transistors will be characterized and optimized in terms of variability and yield, which will be key challenges on 3D printed substrates. The program offers a number of opportunities for the training of highly qualified personnel. Graduate and undergraduate researchers will not only become highly-skilled in additive manufacturing but also in related areas such as chemistry, fluid mechanics, microfabrication and microelectronic devices. The results of this research program will not only have an impact on the scientific community but also the growing additive manufacturing and printed electronics industries in Canada. The basic understanding and general manufacturing processes developed here will be applicable to a great number of Internet of Things (IoT) applications in the future such as smart prosthetics that are customized to each individual user, with sensors allowing users to get a more realistic sense of touch and temperature, as well as integrated actuators, and that are cheap to manufacture.