IBM研究实验室开发出3D打印塑料电子器件的设备

[据3Ders网站2015年1月3日报道]随着目前打印的塑料电子器件性能被认为是接近于40年前的水平，这种进步仍在以指数级增长，尤其是在高质量和低成本制造方法领域。

简单地说，制造塑料的成本要低于硅（主要是因为硅工艺需要真空和高温环境），塑料电路的制造仅仅涉及利用低成本液体进行简单喷墨打印和加工。

考虑到这些情况，问题就演变成了3D打印的进步如何不仅可以进一步压缩成本，制造更强大的设备，而且是什么时候？最大的障碍是如何将当今集成电路的微米级功能进行复制。

最近，IBM位于瑞士苏黎世的研究实验室通过重置原子力显微镜开发出一种设备，能够利用有机材料创建纳米级分辨率的3D模型。此种材料的其他用途是作为创建电路的掩膜。

为创建这种设备，该团队在一个AFM探针尖端增加了一个加热器，利用它对有机分子玻璃或聚邻笨聚合物（PPA）薄膜材料进行解吸。当加热时，这两种材料蒸发，无残留。当在更复杂模式下工作时，这种材料可作为采用立体光刻制造方法生产电路的掩膜。用于创建电子器件额外必要的材料通过掩膜上的图案应用到电路板上。

由于开发出这一制造工艺，IBM已将该设备授权给SwissLitho AG公司。该公司是一家刚成立的公司，正在对此项工艺进行改进。这家公司名为NanoFrazor的设备已能够超越用在半导体制造工艺中传统的电子束光刻设备。与硅制造设备相比，该设备价值50万美元。SwissLitho AG公司对设备进行改进涉及更快地创建出能够制造出更多种类材料模型的模式。
如果Bryzek的理论是正确的，那么距离能够为可穿戴电子产品和其他小型连接设备便宜地制造塑料电路板不远了。如果打印的塑料电子器件真正做到给人眼前一亮的感觉，那么由于仅需更小作坊、企业，甚至更大公司只要有设备能够真正3D打印自己的电路板，它很可能消除大型半导体公司。随着增材制造工艺成本的不断下降，未来这种方法不会太遥远。

（工业和信息化部电子科学技术情报研究所 宋文文）

原文如下：
Recent developments in 3D printed plastic electronics showing promise
Jan 3, 2015 | By Simon
http://www.3ders.org/articles/20 ... howing-promise.html

With today's printed plastic electronics performing nearly just as well as what was considered state-of-the-art forty years ago, it comes with little surprise that advancements are still growing at an exponential level... particularly in higher quality and lower cost fabrication methods.

Simply put, plastic costs less to build than silicon (primarily due to the omission of vacuums and high temperature needs of silicon), and the fabrication of plastic circuit boards involve little more than simple inkjetting and processing with low-cost liquids.

With these facts in mind, the conversation then turns into how advancements in 3D printing can not only drive the costs further down and create even more powerful device, but also, when? The largest hurdle has primarily been in duplicating the micron-level features seen in today's integrated circuits.

More recently, an IBM Research lab in Zurich, Switzerland developed a device by reconfiguring an atomic force microscope so that it was capable of creating 3D patterns with a nanometer-scale resolution in organic material. Among other uses for the material is as a mask for creating circuits.

To create their device, the team added a heater on the tip of an AFM probe and used it to desorb material from a thin film of organic molecular glass or polyphthalamide polymer (PPA). When heated, both materials evaporate and thus, leave no residue behind. When done in more complex patterns, the material can serve as a mask for producing circuits with stereolithography fabrication methods. The additional necessary materials for creating the electronics are then applied to the board via the pattern on the mask.

Since developing this fabrication method, IBM has licensed the device to SwissLitho AG, a startup that is developing several enhancements for the technology. Their version of the device, the NanoFrazor, has been able to outperform conventional electron-beam lithography equipment used in the semiconductor manufacturing process and costs just $500,000 compared to up to $30 million for silicon manufacturing equipment. The enhancements that SwissLatho AG are currently working on involve faster speeds for creating the patterns and models that are able to make patterns out of a wider variety of materials.

"Plastic circuits could end up having perhaps 1/1,000th the cost-per-area of the equivalent silicon device," said Dr. Janusz Bryzek, founder of the Trillion Sensor movement.

If Bryzek's theory is correct, then the potential for being able to cheaply fabricate plastic boards for wearable electronics and other small connected devices isn't too far off of the horizon. If the printed plastic electronics truly do make an impact, it will likely eliminate large semiconductor companies due to smaller workshops, firms and even larger companies being able to literally 3D print their own circuit boards...so long as they have the equipment. As the cost of additive manufacturing methods continue to go down, that future might not be too far off.