Liquefied Metal Jet Program Automation and Robotics Research Institute (ARRI)

摘要

Department of Defense (DoD) agencies are major users of electronics and areresponsible for much of the current printing wiring board (PWB) manufacturing. Current manufacturing of PWBs utilizes photolithography and chemical etchings which are subtractive processing techniques creating tons of hazardous waste materials and waste water each year. The current processing techniques apply photoresist to the surface of a copper clad board only to remove more than 90 percent of both copper and resist in the next phase of processing. The subtractive process is, by design, a wasteful processing technique. Current manufacturing processes limit the line size and spaces which determine the circuit density and number of PWB layers. The proposed alternative manufacturing technology is Liquid Metal Jetting (LMJ). While offering significant reductions in hazardous waste produced and reduced overall processing cost, LMJ can also excel in one-of-a-kind and replication type PWB board production. The proposed process can produce extremely fine PWB patterns with circuit lines much smaller than existing technologies. With a direct Computer Aided Design (CAD) interface, the LMJ process is especially compatible with one-of-a-kind and rapid prototyping applications. jg p.8.