Progressive miniaturization with accompanying complexity of components through function integration as well as ever shorter product lifecycles are the challenges faced by producers of modern, high value functional components particularly in the electro-/electronics, but also increasingly in the automotive, medical and telecommunications industries. Molded interconnect devices (MID) in combination with suitable connection and assembly techniques are ideally suited to allow the number of parts and assembly expenditures to be reduced. MIDs use the large spatial organization possibilities of molded plastics to integrate mechanical and electrical (mechatronic) functionality into a module. With the Laser-Direct-Structurization Process (LDS) developed by LPKF it is possible to realize highly functional circuit layouts on complex 3 dimensional carriers and to achieve the above mentioned functional unity of housing and circuit board. The basis of the process involves doped thermoplastics/thermosets, which allow the formation of circuit traces by means of laser activation and finally metallization by electroless copper chemistry. The following article shows an example from a user in the automotive industry which demonstrates that it is possible with assistance from I&T AG and Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials, for MID user to go from prototype to production.
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