MICRO-DISPENSING MULTI-LAYERED 3D OBJECTS WITH CURING STEPS

• US 20130193619A1
• Filed: 01/31/2013
• Published: 08/01/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nscrypt Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Nscrypt Incorporated
• Inventors: Church, Kenneth H., Newton, Charles M., Chen, Xudong, Clark, Patrick A.
• Granted Patent: US 10,059,056 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 264/400
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/106 using only liquids or viscous materials, e.g. depositing a continuous bead of viscous material
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/165 using a combination of solid and fluid materials, e.g. a powder selectively bound by a liquid binder, catalyst, inhibitor or energy absorber
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/188 involving additional operations performed on the added layers, e.g. smoothing, grinding or thickness control surface shaping B29C59/00; after-treatment of articles without altering their shape B29C71/00
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/209 Heads; Nozzles
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 30/00 Apparatus for additive manufacturing; Details thereof or accessories therefor
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 40/00 Auxiliary operations or equipment, e.g. for material handling
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 40/20 Post-treatment, e.g. curing, coating or polishing
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2203/0126 Dispenser, e.g. for solder paste, for supplying conductive paste for screen printing or for filling holes
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 3/1241 by ink-jet printing or drawing by dispensing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/4913 Assembling to base an electrical component, e.g., capacitor, etc.

Abstract

A method of building a three dimensional (3D) structure includes micro-dispensing a layer comprising a material using a syringe-based micro-dispensing tool, curing the layer, and repeating the steps of micro-dispensing and curing a plurality of times in order to build the three-dimensional structure. The material may be loaded with nano to micron sized particles, tubes, or strings.

Claims

1. A method of building a three dimensional (3D) structure, the method comprising:

(a) micro-dispensing a layer comprising a material using a syringe-based micro-dispensing tool;

(b) curing the layer; and

(c) repeating steps (a) and (b) a plurality of time to build the three-dimensional structure.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of curing occurs in real-time.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the material is loaded with at least one of nano to micron sized particles, tubes, or strings.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the material is loaded with nano to micron sized particles, the method further comprising post processing the three dimensional structure at a sufficiently high temperature to burn off the material and leave the particles.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the curing is selected from the set consisting of photo curing, thermal curing, electrical curing, inductive curing, and chemically induced curing.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the layer comprises a partial or complete circuit.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising placing a packaged or unpackaged die on the layer.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the syringe-based micro-dispensing tool comprises a plurality of nozzles operating independently and adapted for use in parallel or in series to increase speed of building the three-dimensional structure.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein each of the plurality of nozzles dispenses a different material.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the curing is performed by a plurality of laser or ultra-violet (UV) sources in parallel or series to increase speed of building the three-dimensional structure.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising cutting the layer with one of a plurality of cutting sources used in parallel or series to increase speed of material removal.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the plurality of cutting sources comprise a plurality of lasers.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising cutting the layer by splitting a laser to allow for parallel cutting to increase speed of material removal.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising using feedback from cameras and vision to increase speed and accuracy in building the three-dimensional structure.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising observing steps (a) and (b) using one or more cameras.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising generating feedback using sensors for heat.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising using the feedback in providing temperature control over the step of curing or annealing.

18. The method of claim 1 further comprising generating feedback using sensors for light and using the feedback in providing photo sensitive curing control.

19. A method of building a three dimensional (3D) structure, the method comprising:

providing a system comprising;

(a) a control system, (b) a syringe-based micro-dispensing tool operatively connected to the control system, the syringe-based micro-dispensing tool comprising a plurality of nozzles operating independently and the control system adapted to control the plurality of nozzles in parallel or in series, (c) a curing system for curing layers of the 3D structure;

micro-dispensing a first layer comprising a first set of materials using the syringe-based micro-dispensing tool;

curing the first layer using the curing system;

micro-dispensing a second layer comprising a second set of materials using the syringe-based micro-dispensing tool, the second layer overlaying the first layer;

curing the second layer using the curing system; and

micro-dispensing and curing one or more additional layers, the additional layers overlaying the second layer.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the first set of materials comprises a plurality of materials and wherein each of the plurality of nozzles dispenses a different material within the first set of materials and wherein at least one of the materials within the first set of materials is loaded with at least one of nano to micron sized particles, tubes, or strings.