ioTech Group Limited, a UK based electronics material manufacturing start-up said it has introduced the World’s first Continuous Laser Assisted Deposition (C.L.A.D) technology for electronics manufacturing from semiconductors to PCBs.
The company’s R&D footprint in Israel has been developing a unique multi-material additive manufacturing technology since 2016. C.L.A.D is designed to process any industry certified material at high resolution and speed, enabling full scale digital production.
L.A.D is said to print all materials in three steps beginning the manufacturing process with coating on a foil in a perfectly smooth and fine micro layer. This progresses to laser jetting, fast with micron accuracy and then to final post processing steps such as laser sintering, UV curing and heating. L.A.D jets standard industrial materials with 3,000 times higher viscosity than ink jet without any risk of clogging. A single layer is printed in seconds and multi-layer PCBs are printed in minutes. The assembling happens in support of a camera that locates the patch for solder pasting. L.A.D can dispense upto six materials on any substrate – rigid, flexible, rough or smooth. The system speed, accuracy and flexibility is said to enable advanced designs for more compact and powerful applications. It can print both conductive and organic materials simultaneously.
ioTech said, in a first of its kind, manufacturers can use their standard materials, control deposition of each single drop and reach high production yields. This new technology is expected to delivery complete commercial solutions across industries with potential for mass manufacturing applications.
“We are excited to introduce our unique C.L.A.D. technology to the electronics industry and additive manufacturing,” said Dr Michael Zenou, ioTech’s co-founder and CTO. “Its ability to deposit any flowable industrial material for so many applications is unprecedented. It will increase production efficiencies and encourage innovation for many companies. A whole host of industries will be able to adopt an agile manufacturing approach to deliver fully functional products fast, facilitating mass customization when required, and at the same time, be eco-friendly. The flexibility of C.L.A.D. is simply remarkable.”
