Direct cold sintering of functional ceramics onto polymer circuit boards: a new low energy manufacturing route in electronics

冷烧结是一种新兴技术，可在低至100 ℃的温度下实现陶瓷、陶瓷/聚合物和陶瓷/金属复合材料的致密化。将瞬时液体添加到陶瓷粉末中，然后对其进行压制和加热。颗粒滑动、溶解和再沉淀导致致密化，并且低温能够与聚合物、金属和不同陶瓷共烧结。金属聚合物印刷电路板（例如FR 4 PCB）是现代电子产品的基础。金属化部分被蚀刻掉，所需的功能和无源元件使用“拾取和放置”技术焊接到位。压敏电阻、压敏电阻和贴片天线等陶瓷元件在高温（>1100摄氏度）下单独制造，并组装在PCB上。在这里，我们提出了一种完全不同的方法，其中用于制造组件的功能陶瓷通过<150摄氏度的冷烧结工艺直接沉积/集成到PCB上，从而减少了对单独陶瓷组件的能源密集型制造的需求。总体目标是开发一种颠覆性技术，降低现代消费电子产品印刷电路制造的成本和能源。

Cold sintering is an emerging technology that permits densification of ceramics, ceramic/polymer and ceramic/metal composites at temperatures as low as 100 degrees C. A transient liquid is added to the ceramic powder which is then pressed and heated. Particle-sliding, dissolution and re-precipitation result in densification and the low temperatures enable co-sintering with polymers, metals and dissimilar ceramics. Metallised-polymer printed circuit boards (e.g. FR4 PCBs) are the basis of modern electronics. The metallisation is partially etched away and the required functional and passive components are soldered into position using 'pick and place' technology. Ceramic components such as varistors, thermistors and patch antennas are manufactured separately at high temperatures (>1100 degrees C) and are assembled on the PCB. Here, we propose a radically different approach in which functional ceramics for the fabrication of components are directly deposited/integrated onto the PCB through a cold sintering process at <150 degrees C, reducing the need for energy intensive manufacturing of separate ceramic components. The overall aim is to develop a disruptive technology that reduces both the cost and energy involved in the fabrication of printed circuits for modern consumer electronics.