SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING OF ELECTROMECHANICAL ASSEMBLIES

• US 20170042034A1
• Filed: 04/21/2015
• Published: 02/09/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cornell University
• Original Assignee: Cornell University
• Inventors: MACCURDY, Robert, LIPSON, Hod
• Granted Patent: US 10,645,812 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 shaping a substrate by laser ablation H05K3/0026
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2203/1327 : Moulding over PCB locally or completely applying non-metallic protective coatings for encapsulating mounted components H05K3/284
• 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 the previous region, the plurality of stacked regions forming a base region comprising one or more void elements;

selecting by a second device one or more module components from a library of module components;

positioning by the second device each of the one or more module components into a portion of the one or more void elements of the base region portion such that the module components are adjacent one another, the base region portion and one or more 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 module component 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 the step of applying heat by a third device to fuse the 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.

16. The method for fabricating an electromechanical assembly according to claim 1 wherein each module component comprises a top surface that includes one or more pads.

17. The method for fabricating an electromechanical assembly according to claim 16 wherein each module component comprises a bottom surface that includes one or more pads.

18. The method for fabricating an electromechanical assembly according to claim 17 wherein a via connects the one or more pads of the top surface and the one or more pads of the bottom surface.

8. An electromechanical assembly comprising:

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

one or more module components positioned adjacent to one another in the one or more void elements; and

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

9. The electromechanical assembly according to claim 8 wherein each module component comprises a tile element with an electrical element positioned on a surface or within a surface of the tile element.

10. The electromechanical assembly according to claim 9 wherein the tile element is a rectangular parallelepiped shape.

11. The electromechanical assembly according to claim 10 wherein the tile element is a 3 millimeter (mm) square shape with a thickness of 0.9 millimeters (mm).

12. The electromechanical assembly according to claim 9 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.

19. The electromechanical assembly according to claim 8 wherein each module component comprises one or more pads on a top surface or a bottom surface of the module component.

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

a printing apparatus that deposits a first material into a plurality of stacked regions, the 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 a tile element including an electrical element and mechanical element positioned on or within a surface of the tile element;

a component placement apparatus that selects from the module library one or more module components, the component placement apparatus further positions the one or more module components into a portion of the one or more void elements of the base region portion such that the module components are adjacent one another, the base region portion and one or more module components creating both mechanical properties and electrical properties of the electromechanical assembly.

14. The system for fabricating an electromechanical assembly according to claim 13 further comprising a fusion device for fusing the module components together.

15. The system for fabricating an electromechanical assembly according to claim 14 wherein the fusion device is a laser sintering machine.

20. The system for fabricating an electromechanical assembly according to claim 13 wherein each module component comprises one or more pads on a top surface or a bottom surface of the module component.