System and methods for additive manufacturing of electromechanical assemblies

• US 10,645,812 B2
• Filed: 04/21/2015
• Issued: 05/05/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cornell University
• Original Assignee: Cornell University
• Inventors: MacCurdy, Robert, Lipson, Hod
• Primary Examiner(s): Del Sole, Joseph S
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nelson, Jamel M
• Application Number:
  US15/305,962
• Publication Number:
  US 20170042034A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,841 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/50 Instruments, other than pincettes or toothpicks, for removing foreign bodies from the human body locating otherwise A61B5/06; locating by radiation A61B6/00; removing calculi A61B17/22; from the eyes A61F9/00709
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 65/16 Laser beams
• CPC Class Codes: B29L 2031/34 Electrical apparatus, e.g. sparking plugs or parts thereof
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 10/00 Processes of additive manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 30/00 Apparatus for additive manufacturing; Details thereof or accessories therefor
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 80/00 Products made by additive manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/56 Encapsulations, e.g. encapsulation layers, coatings
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67115 mainly by radiation
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67132 Apparatus for placing on an insulating substrate, e.g. tape
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 23/5384 Conductive vias through the substrate with or without pins, e.g. buried coaxial conductors H01L23/5383, H01L23/5385 take precedence; pins attached to insulating substrates H01L23/49811
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 23/5389 the chips being integrally enclosed by the interconnect and support structures
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 25/112 Mixed assemblies
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 25/18 the devices being of types provided for in two or more different subgroups of the same main group of groups H01L27/00 - H01L33/00, or in a single subclass of H10K, H10N
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 25/50 Multistep manufacturing processes of assemblies consisting of devices, each device being of a type provided for in group H01L27/00 or H01L29/00 H01L21/50 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 27/01 comprising only passive thin-film or thick-film elements formed on a common insulating substrate passive two-terminal components without a potential-jump or surface barrier for integrated circuits, details thereof and multistep manufacturing processes therefor H01L28/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 27/13 combined with thin-film or thick-film passive components
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/0287 having an universal lay-out, e.g. pad or land grid patterns or mesh patterns
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/113 Via provided in pad; Pad over filled via
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/115 Via connections; Lands around holes or via connections H05K1/112 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/117 Pads along the edge of rigid circuit boards, e.g. for pluggable connectors
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/14 : Structural association of two or more printed circuits providing electric connection to or between printed circuits H05K1/11, H01R12/00
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/16 : incorporating printed electric components, e.g. printed resistor, capacitor, inductor
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/185 : Components encapsulated in the insulating substrate of the printed circuit or incorporated in internal layers of a multilayer circuit semiconductor chips encapsulated by interconnect and support structures H01L23/5389, H01L24/00
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/10015 : Non-printed capacitor
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/10022 : Non-printed resistor
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/1003 : Non-printed inductor
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/10053 : Switch
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/10106 : Light emitting diode [LED]
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/10166 : Transistor
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/10174 : Diode
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/10189 : Non-printed connector
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/10636 : Leadless chip, e.g. chip capacitor or resistor
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2203/107 : Using laser light
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2203/1327 : Moulding over PCB locally or completely
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 3/0014 : Shaping of the substrate, e.g. by moulding
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 3/125 : by ink-jet printing
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 3/284 : for encapsulating mounted components H05K1/185 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 3/30 : Assembling printed circuits with electric components, e.g. with resistor
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 3/368 : parallel to each other H05K3/361 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 3/4673 : Application methods or materials of intermediate insulating layers not specially adapted to any one of the previous methods of adding a circuit layer similar methods for protective coatings H05K3/28
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 3/4697 : having cavities, e.g. for mounting components H05K3/4691 takes precedence

Abstract

A hybrid additive manufacturing approach that incorporates three-dimensional (3D) printing and placement of modules selected from a library of modules to fabricate an electromechanical assembly. By virtue of fabrication of the electromechanical assembly, mechanical properties and electrical properties of the assembly are created. The invention overcomes the material and process limitations of current printable electronics approaches, enabling complete, complex electromechanical assemblies to be fabricated.

Claims

1. A method for fabricating an electromechanical assembly, comprising the steps of:

depositing by a first device a first material into a plurality of stacked regions, each successive region positioned on top of a previously deposited region, the plurality of stacked regions forming a base region comprising one or more void elements;

selecting by a second device two or more module components from a library of module components, each module component comprising one or more connection elements;

positioning by the second device the selected module components into a portion of the one or more void elements of the base region portion such that the selected module components are adjacent to and in direct contact with one another;

connecting directly the one or more connection elements of the adjacent selected module components, the base region portion and the connected adjacent selected module components creating both mechanical properties and electrical properties of the electromechanical assembly.

2. The method for fabricating an electromechanical assembly according to claim 1 wherein the first device is a 3D printing machine.

3. The method for fabricating an electromechanical assembly according to claim 1 wherein the second device is a pick-and-place machine.

4. The method for fabricating an electromechanical assembly according to claim 1 wherein the first material is a photopolymer material.

5. The method for fabricating an electromechanical assembly according to claim 1 wherein each of the two or more selected module components includes an electrical element selected from the group comprising:

2-way connect, 4-way connect, crossover connect, resistor, capacitor, inductor, diode, transistor, switch, and microcontroller.

6. The method for fabricating an electromechanical assembly according to claim 1 wherein the positioning step further comprises a step of applying heat by a third device to fuse the adjacent selected module components to one another.

7. The method for fabricating an electromechanical assembly according to claim 6 wherein the third device is a laser sintering machine.

8. The method for fabricating an electromechanical assembly according to claim 1 wherein each of the two or more selected module components comprises a top surface that includes the one or more connection elements, the connection elements comprising one or more pads.

9. The method for fabricating an electromechanical assembly according to claim 8 wherein each of the two or more selected module components comprises a bottom surface that includes the one or more connection elements, the connection elements comprising one or more pads.

10. The method for fabricating an electromechanical assembly according to claim 9 wherein the one or more pads of the top surface of a first adjacent selected module component connect to the one or more pads of the bottom surface of a second adjacent selected module component.

11. An electromechanical assembly comprising:

a base region portion comprising a first plurality of successive material regions, wherein the first plurality of successive material regions forms one or more void elements;

two or more module components positioned adjacent to and in direct contact with one another in the one or more void elements, each module component comprising one or more connection elements, wherein a first module component is directly connected to the one or more connection elements of a second module component; and

a top region portion comprising a second plurality of successive material regions, wherein the second plurality of successive material regions encapsulates the connected module components.

12. The electromechanical assembly according to claim 11 wherein each of the two or more module component comprises a tile element with an electrical element positioned on a surface or within a surface of the tile element.

13. The electromechanical assembly according to claim 12 wherein the tile element is a rectangular parallelepiped shape.

14. The electromechanical assembly according to claim 13 wherein the tile element is a 3 millimeter (mm) square shape with a thickness of 0.9 millimeters (mm).

15. The electromechanical assembly according to claim 12 wherein the electrical element is selected from the group of electrical elements comprising:

2-way connect, 4-way connect, crossover connect, resistor, capacitor, inductor, diode, transistor, switch, and microcontroller.

16. The electromechanical assembly according to claim 11 wherein each of the one or more connection elements comprises one or more pads on a top surface or a bottom surface of the module component.

17. A system for fabricating an electromechanical assembly, comprising:

a printing apparatus configured to deposit a first material into a first plurality of stacked regions, the first plurality of stacked regions forming a base region portion comprising one or more void elements;

a module library comprising a plurality of module components, each module component comprising one or more connection elements;

a component placement apparatus configured to select from the module library two or more module components, the component placement apparatus further positions the two or more selected module components within the one or more void elements of the base region portion such that the two or more selected module components are adjacent to and in direct contact with one another, and wherein the one or more connection elements of a first selected module component are connected directly to the one or more connection elements of a second selected module component; and

the base region portion and the connected selected module components creating both mechanical properties and electrical properties of the electromechanical assembly.

18. The system for fabricating an electromechanical assembly according to claim 17 further comprising a fusion device configured to fuse the connected selected module components together.

19. The system for fabricating an electromechanical assembly according to claim 18 wherein the fusion device is a laser sintering machine.

20. The system for fabricating an electromechanical assembly according to claim 17 wherein the one or more connection elements comprise one or more pads on a top surface or a bottom surface of each of the two or more selected module components.

21. The system for fabricating an electromechanical assembly according to claim 17, wherein the electrical properties are achieved through direct connections between the one or more connection elements of the connected selected module components without the need for wire or trace.

22. The system for fabricating an electromechanical assembly according to claim 17, wherein the printing apparatus is configured to deposit a second material onto the first plurality of stacked regions to encapsulate the connected selected module components.

23. The system for fabricating an electromechanical assembly according to claim 17, wherein the two or more selected module components comprise a tile element with an electrical element positioned on a surface or within a surface of the tile element.

24. The system for fabricating an electromechanical assembly according to claim 17, wherein the two or more selected module components are prefabricated with the same size and shape, but the electrical properties and the mechanical properties differ between each of the two or more selected module components.

25. The system for fabricating an electromechanical assembly according to claim 17, wherein the two or more selected module components include an electrical element selected from the group consisting of:

2-way connect, 4-way connect, crossover connect, resistor, capacitor, inductor, diode, transistor, switch, and microcontroller.

26. The system for fabricating an electromechanical assembly according to claim 20, further comprising a processor containing instructions that when executed, cause the processor to communicate with a controller such that the controller provides the one or more pads with programming signals to enable the printing apparatus to individually program each of the two or more selected module components.

27. The system for fabricating an electromechanical assembly according to claim 17, wherein the one or more connection elements are one or more of:

a pad, a pin-in socket, a rack-and-pinion connection, a captive hinge, or a spring.