China3D printingOPTOMEC’s semiconductor solution, which involves the use of 3D printing to integrate millimeter-wave circuits into cell signal transmitters, is said to provide better connectivity and fewer dropped calls for nearby users. In fact, since adopting its approach, Optomec’s customers have reported signal enhancements of up to 100% and increased device efficiency, so it can now help meet the growing global demand for high-speed 5G.
“Our customers have reported some very impressive performance improvements in mmWave interconnects,” said Bryan Germann, Optomec Product Manager. “Customers in many industries using the mmWave frequency band are seeing the benefits of printed interconnects instead of standard wire or ribbon bonds.”
Illustration of the Aerosol Jet Printed interconnect connected to a mmWave component. Image via Optomec.
aerosol jet electron
Optomec sells a portfolio of systems, software and materials related to two of its different technologies: “Lens” Directed Energy Deposition (DED) and Aerosol Jet Printing (AJP). While the former continues to find turbine maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) applications, the latter is more commonly used to create 2D or 3D electronics at the microscopic level of detail.
In practice, the company’s aerosol jet technology works by jetting nanoparticle inks onto circuit boards and components from a distance of up to 10mm. These droplets, each between 1 and 5 microns in diameter, are then sintered together into individual layers, enabling interconnects to be printed directly onto conformal surfaces, eliminating the need for bulky circuit substrates.
The technology’s precious metal compatibility has also made it popular with consumer and aerospace manufacturers, with Samsung using AJP to speed up its electronics production process, Northrop Grumman using it to make gold semiconductor interconnects, and in In one project, the project produced antenna components with significantly upgraded connections.
Following Northrop Grumman’s research two years ago, Optomec has now optimized its new HD2 AJP 3D printer by pre-qualifying the machine to deposit interconnects onto 5G antennas , to somehow replicate these results on a wider scale, making the technology ready for “direct integration into existing packaging lines,” as it says.
The Optomec diagram depicts the potential benefits of switching to AJP to produce antenna interconnects. Image via Optomec.
MMIC and high-speed internet
Over the past two decades, the number of smart devices capable of wirelessly connecting to each other via radio frequency (RF) signals has grown exponentially. This increase in demand has forced the development of higher frequencies such as “millimeter wave”, which are now starting to gain a lot of attention as a way to meet the capacity demands of the high-speed 5G networks emerging around the world.
When building these high-speed arrays, the way in which millimeter-wave integrated circuits (MMICs) are embedded is a key determinant of their ultimate performance. However, while the use of MMICs continues to grow at an annual rate of 27%, Optomec says their wider adoption is “hampered” by the often outdated methods used to connect them.
Many existing ICs use tiny gold wires to connect to circuits, and these wires become less efficient as frequency increases, resulting in users experiencing low wireless range and high power consumption. To address these issues, Optomec has introduced new semiconductor packaging solutions in which aerosol jets connect to ICs with an efficiency nearly matching copper etching in circuits.
“The benefits of shorter, better impedances are matched to conversion, with lower conversion losses per chip-to-chip or chip-to-board,” explains Germann. “This leads to improvements in overall device efficiency and performance.”
Early adopters of the company’s MMIC interconnects reported a 100 percent increase in transmitted signal power per circuit connection in the millimeter range. This, in turn, increases the wireless transmission radius for adopters, prolongs the life of the antenna, and allows them to transmit signals in the 30 to 300 GHz range.This bandwidth is sufficient not only for typical office or home networks (operating at around 5 GHz), but also for next-generation mmWave networks operating at frequencies up to 53 GHz, as well as for automotive, radar, defense, and medical imaging applications The ones that work even higher than that.
Optomec has prequalified its new HD2 electronic 3D printer to implement its antenna interconnect solution. Photo via Optomec.
Accelerating the rollout of 5G
Electronic 3D printing may still be in its relative infancy, but advances in the technology are increasingly allowing researchers to produce 5G antennas with upgraded capabilities. At the University of Delaware, engineers have deployed XJet’s Carmel 1400 to 3D print a new 5G antenna that can transfer data 10-20 times faster than 4G or 3G alternatives.
Recently, UTS and Nano Dimension collaborated to 3D print a 5G mmWave antenna package design as part of a pilot project. The program, which aims to accelerate the development of 5G additively manufactured electronics, has so far created new types of devices that can offer higher bandwidth and become competitors to regular chips.
Meanwhile, in the UK, researchers have investigated the potential of 3D-printed multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antennas to support the country’s rollout of 5G communication systems. Said to be able to provide continuous, real-time coverage without the use of “phase shifters”, the proposed MIMO could represent a low-cost and flexible way to unlock UK-wide 5G and mmWave applications.
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