Digital high-throughput flexible hybrid electronic manufacturing strategies

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The Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things revolutions aims at taking better-informed decisions in real-time using better and cheaper flexible hybrid electronics circuits for smart sensing applications. Screen- or stamp-based techniques are already used in industry for coarse dispensing or specialty applications from flexible electronics to compact monolithic hybrids. However, these well-established printing techniques suffer from two distinct drawbacks: (1) A rigid configuration where any change in the circuit design requires new hardware (stencils, stamps, or slot-die) and (2) a significant material waste with complex environmental and safety issues. In recent years, digital inkjet printing technologies has shown great potential for rapid prototyping, low-volume production and hybrid integration of critical electronic components. Compared to current techniques, digital inkjet printing allows instantaneous design modification by simply changing the electronic design file, with optimal use of the expensive functional inks. However, research-grade inkjet printers cannot support manufacturing-scale production volumes. While manufacturing-scale digital inkjet machines are well-established in consumer markets like the graphic and food-labelling industries, major fundamental issues remain to achieve high-volume printing of functional inks for printed electronics. In this collaborative R&D effort, our research objective is to work closely with two key players of the Canadian electronics manufacturing and assembly sector (C2MI and Varitron) and their partners at Fujifilm-Dimatix in order to (1) adapt digital inkjet printing strategies from a research-scale Ceradrop printer to a customized industrial manufacturing-grade high-throughput printing system and then (2) demonstrate high-volume production of flexible electronic circuit boards compatible with the industry's current assembly and encapsulation processes.