CHANDLER, AZ – Rogers Corporation (NYSE:ROG) will exhibit at the GOMACTech 2023 conference at Town & Country in San Diego, CA (Booth #509), March 21st & 22nd , highlighting laminate and film materials for use in the advanced packaging industry, used in C4ISR applications in the Ground, Air, Sea and Space domains.
GOMACTech is a premier event focused on developments in microcircuit applications for government systems.
Some of Rogers’ products being highlighted include:
Recently introduced Radix™ 3D Printable Dielectrics family of products, is the first available material featuring a dielectric constant of 2.8 and low loss characteristics at microwave frequencies. These printable dielectric materials give radio frequency (RF) designers unprecedented design freedom in creating new components, eliminating the need to consider typical manufacturing design constraints. Radix 3D Printable Dielectrics are proprietary composite materials designed for Digital Light Processing (DLP) 3D printing, enabling a scalable, high-resolution printing process for end-use RF dielectric component manufacturing. Rogers Corporation’s first Radix 3D Printable Dielectric material has a targeted dielectric constant of 2.8 and a dissipation factor of 0.0043 at 10 GHz when cured.
MAGTREX ® 555 High Impedance Laminates: The first commercially available low loss laminate with controlled permeability and permittivity, enabling antenna designers to expand the trade-space of their antenna design, enabling design flexibility and optimization.
Rogers technical staff will be available to discuss your most demanding applications from Build-Up materials for advanced packaging solutions, Phase Array Radar solutions, high frequency magneto- dielectric materials, ablative Radome materials, and metallized-shaped/3D ADM dielectric solutions.
CAMBRIDGE, UK – Integrating multiple functionalities within a single entity promises simpler, more efficient devices without compromising capability. Smartphones are a great example, with maps, diaries, phones, cameras, games consoles, and more integrated into a single, compact device. However, the smartphone itself is arguably a masterpiece of packaging, containing many different components from different suppliers that are mounted onto a chassis.
What if, rather than assembling numerous subsidiary components and ensuring electrical connectivity, the functionality was integrated into the object itself? This is the promise of ‘3D electronics’, where the boundaries between mechanical and electrical design fade away and components have the electronic functionality embedded within them. This approach can be applied to many length scales, with electronic functionality in the form of conductive inks and components are applied onto the surface of 3D objects, termed ‘partially additive’, or incorporated internally (termed ‘fully additive’, akin to 3D printing with electronics included).
In-mold electronics (IME) is a third approach to producing embedded electronics, generally in the form of smart surfaces with integrated lighting and capacitive touch sensors. With IME, conductive inks are printed and components are optionally mounted onto a flat surface that is subsequently thermoformed and enclosed via injection molding.
Benefits and Challenges
Embedding electronic functionality within an enclosed part via fully additive electronics or IME offers a compelling value proposition: fewer parts, fewer connections, simpler supply chains, minimal assembly, lower weight, and improved sustainability. The ability to access these benefits with established manufacturing methods such as screen printing, thermoforming and injection molding means that IME has received extensive interest from OEMs across multiple sectors and from materials suppliers. But is there a downside to embedding electronic functionality? After all, functional foil bonding, a competing approach to IME with less integration that also enables backlit touch-sensitive interfaces, has gained considerable commercial traction and is deployed in multiple vehicles today.
Arguably the main challenge for embedded electronics methods such as IME is that the product of individual yields determines the overall production yield. As such, the yield of each constituent process, including those that are purely decorative, must be extremely high – if there is a problem with any process step, the entire part must be discarded. IDTechEx has been told that the biggest yield concerns for functional surfaces are associated with producing a glossy black decorative exterior rather than the electronics themselves.
The second challenge associated with integrating electronic functionality is reconfiguring supply chains. If the separate components are assembled, then each part and hence supplier can be changed independently. In contrast, if all the components are integrated within a single part via IME or fully additive electronics, then mutual compatibility must be ensured, reducing the ease of switching suppliers and potentially increasing component prices.
When Is Functionality Integration Worthwhile?
Determining when the functionality integration offered by IME is most compelling requires consideration of two parameters: degree of integration and production volume. Achieving the requisite high yields and reconfiguring the supply chain imposes high initial costs but can reduce variable costs since less material is used and less assembly is required. Furthermore, greater integration, such as embedding integrated circuits (ICs) within IME parts to provide processing capability, further reduces material and assembly costs.
As such, IDTechEx suggests that embedded electronics, either IME or fully additive, will have a higher value proposition as both production volume and the extent of functionality integration increase.
Additional Information
IDTechEx’s reports “3D Electronics/Additive Electronics 2022-2032” and “In-mold Electronics 2023-2033” provide comprehensive insight into these emerging manufacturing methodologies. Drawing on interviews with companies and conference visits, both reports evaluate the competing technical processes, material requirements and applications. Each report includes 10-year market forecasts segmented by technology and application sector, expressed as both revenue and area/volume.
AUSTIN, TX – High Density Packaging (HDP) User Group announces the Jack Fisher Technical Excellence Award to honor the memory of Jack, who passed away on January 20, 2023.
Jack served as an HDP Facilitator for more than 18 years and was a major contributor to the growth of HDP over the course of his tenure. “Jack was a printed circuit board industry icon, which was recognized by his election to the IPC Hall of Fame in 2006. His expertise and experience will be missed by members and staff alike”, said Larry Marcanti, Executive Director of HDP User Group.
The Jack Fisher Technical Excellence Award will be awarded to HDP members who best exemplify the standards set by Jack over the course of his stellar career.
WALTHAM, MA – Nano Dimension Ltd. (Nasdaq: NNDM, “Nano Dimension” or the “Company”), a leading supplier of Additively Manufactured Electronics (“AME”) and multi-dimensional polymer, metal & ceramic Additive Manufacturing (“AM”) 3D printers, announced today that it has installed one of its 3D printing systems – the Admaflex130 – at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (“Marshall”).
Marshall procured the printing system as part of a project to 3D print sodium ion batteries.
The 3D printing system that is part of Nano Dimension’s multi-product offering comes from the July 2022 acquisition of Admatec Europe B.V. The Admaflex130 is exceptional for its ability to manufacture in multiple materials, specifically ceramics and metals, while also doing so at high precision. With the benefit of its Digital Light Processing (“DLP”) based technology, the 3D printer is ideal for research & development and 24/7 digital serial production of functional parts requiring complex geometries, high resolution, fine details, and smooth surface while benefiting from excellent material properties. The system also offers users the flexibility to develop custom materials and configure all printing parameters.
Yoav Stern, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Nano Dimension, shared: “It is hard to imagine working with an organization that is doing more groundbreaking and literally expanding the envelop of space as NASA. We are proud they have selected the Admaflex130 from Nano Dimension. Our team took a risk in developing a system that can print in multiple materials and have open parameter settings, and they did it successfully. We trust this system will enable the pioneering leaders at NASA to fabricate innovative applications. And who knows? Maybe one day soon we’ll see one such application going to Mars.”
SAN JOSE, CA – Cadence Design Systems, Inc., announced today that it is making a $50 million USD purpose-driven investment in an impact investment program managed by RBC Global Asset Management (RBC GAM) to address racial wealth inequities in affordable housing, homeownership and small business.
In partnership with RBC GAM, Cadence will invest in an impact investment strategy that seeks to positively support underserved Black and Latinx individuals and communities nationally, including those in the San Francisco Bay Area, CA; Austin, TX; Columbia, MD; the New York Metropolitan Area; Boston and Burlington, MA; Research Triangle Park in Raleigh, NC; and Pittsburgh, PA—locations where Cadence has significant operations and a community presence. Additionally, a portion of Cadence’s investment will be focused internationally on projects aimed at supporting women and people of color as well as climate justice initiatives.
"Fostering diversity, equity and inclusion is at the core of who we are as a company, and collaborating with RBC GAM to advance racial equity and community development was a very easy choice," said Dr. Anirudh Devgan, president and CEO of Cadence. "We are dedicated to making a difference and look forward to seeing the impact that our partnership will have on Black and Latinx communities across the United States as well as on the international initiatives focused on supporting women, people of color and climate justice."
"Following Black History Month, we’re taking a proactive approach to address the racial income gaps and racial homeownership inequality that exist throughout the United States in commemoration of this important period of reflection," said KT Moore, vice president, Corporate Marketing at Cadence. "At Cadence, we are committed to supporting diversity and revitalizing communities where we operate and are proud to call home."
Cadence’s investment will be allocated in RBC GAM’s Access Capital Community Investing Strategy, which will invest in U.S. government-backed securities to support lending in historically underserved communities.
Access Capital has a quarter century of history of supporting investments in underserved communities and was founded in 1998 by Ron Homer, Chief Strategist of U.S. Impact Investing at RBC Global Asset Management, who is a pioneer of impact investing in the U.S. Mr. Homer, who held executive roles at several Black-owned banks before joining RBC GAM in 2008, has dedicated the entirety of his six-decade career to supporting community development and homeownership in Black communities through impact investing.
"We are excited to work with Cadence on this initiative aimed at reducing racial disparities in income and wealth within the United States," said Mr. Homer. "Through Access Capital’s 25-year history of impact investing, doors have opened that facilitated more people of color to enjoy the benefits of the American dream of wealth, homeownership and income appreciation. On the heels of Black History Month, we must understand the importance of building racial equity across America."
CHICAGO – West Chicago PCB fabricator American Standard Circuits has recently purchased and installed two new lines from Circuit Tech International: The etch/strip cupric line for inner layers and the strip/etch/strip ammoniacal line for outer layers after pattern plating.
ASC President and CEO Anaya Vardya commented about the company’s investment in these 2 lines, “We are now commonly dealing with thin core materials down to 1 mil so handling is critical. We are also building boards where we need etching resolution below 0.002” lines and spaces which requires us to have equipment that can handle these parameters and evolve with us for the future. After a thorough evaluation of what was available on the market today, we decided that the Circuit Tech lines were best suited to fit all our needs.”
