Multimaterial aerosol jet printing of passive circuit elements
Solid Freeform Fabrication 2018: Proceedings of the 29th Annual International Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium - An Additive Manufacturing Conference, SFF 2018
Recent advances in additive manufacturing technologies present opportunities for rethinking the design and fabrication of electronic components. An area of considerable interest for electronic printing is the production of multi-layered, multi-material passive components. This research focuses on the design and fabrication of a toroidal microinductor using a digital, direct-write printing platform. The toroidal inductor has a three layer design with a dielectric and core material printed in between the lower and upper halves of the conductive coil. The results of this work are discussed, including printer, ink, and processing requirements to successfully print the multi-layer, multi-material component. The inductance of several successful printed devices is measured and compared to predicted values. Overall, the results and lessons of this work provide guidance for future work in this growing field.