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Nine Startups Innovating Polymer Additive Manufacturing

Essential to understanding the evolution of the polymer 3D printing industry is exploring the change from low-cost printing technologies and materials to the slow growth and adoption of innovative polymer printing technologies and materials, from viscous thermosets to carbon fiber composites to foams.

Protavic International

Protavic is a French manufacturer of adhesives and resins. It is part of the Protex International group. Protavic has recently released a new electrically conductive adhesive that it is targeting for solar cell applications.

Making Sustainable Electronics Tangible

Enhancing 'sustainability' is a widely held aspiration within the electronics industry - realizing this transition is considerably more difficult. To this day, toxic chemicals, material waste, and energy-intensive processing are commonplace.

Silicon Austria Labs (SAL)

Silicon Austria Labs (SAL) outlined its work on enabling hybrid flexible electronics with ultra-fine pitch chip bonding at the 'Printed Electronic Innovations Showcase Day'.

TracXon

TracXon is a very early stage company (founded summer 2022) that aims to be a contract manufacturer for flexible hybrid electronics (FHE). IDTechEx caught up with the company at Electronica 2022.

Maxell High-capacity Ceramic Packaged All-Solid-State Battery

Maxell Ltd has succeeded in increasing the energy density of a ceramic packaged all-solid-state battery using a sulfide based solid electrolyte, resulting in a newly developed and commercialized ceramic packaged all-solid-state battery that has approximately twice the energy density of its predecessor.

SAFI-Tech

SAFI-Tech is an American company based in Iowa and was founded in 2016. SAFI-Tech has developed an innovative approach to low temperature soldering. This involves confining super-cooled liquid solder within a primarily oxide shell, which enables it to flow at ambient temperature when the shell is broken. This is especially useful for soldering temperature sensitive components.

ACI Materials

ACI Materials manufactures a range of conductive inks, provided as part of a 'full-stack' functional material portfolio. It targets applications across printed/hybrid electronics, especially in the wearable technology market with its stretchable inks. IDTechEx caught up with Marshall Tibbetts (COO), Andrew Bambach (Application Engineering Manager) and Mike Mastropietro (CTO).

A Sustainable and Cost-Efficient Solution to Replace Etching Processes

InnovationLab has achieved a breakthrough in additive manufacturing of printed circuit boards, helping meet higher environmental standards for electronics production while also reducing costs.

SAFI-Tech New Supercooled Soldering Technology

Soldering technology is thousands of years old, but is still an essential component in electronics assembly, without which none of our advanced electronic devices would function. Though the soldering process has seen some refinement in modern times, it is still accomplished by heating the soldering metal alloy to its molten state and applying the metal hot at contact points to create a conductive solder joint.

PrintCB / Kundisch

Early-stage copper conductive ink company PrintCB has partnered with established HMI electronics manufacturer Kundisch. PrintCB's copper inks have recently been qualified by Kundisch, and are thus set for adoption in membrane switches for keyboards and other applications of hybrid electronics.

Solder Alternatives for Flexible and Integrated Electronics

Attaching electronic components such as integrated circuits and LEDs to substrates is an essential aspect of electronics manufacturing. While conventional lead-free solder excels at the task for conventional rigid PCBs, it is not so well suited for emerging applications that require components to be attached to flexible substrates or conformal surfaces.

Elephantech

Elephantech have developed an alternative method of manufacturing both rigid and flexible printed circuit boards (PCBs). This is termed 'print-then-plate', and involves printing a thin layer of conductive ink followed by electroless plating.

Repurposing Fossil Fuel Assets: New Options

A more value-added approach to repurposing redundant fossil fuel assets such as coal mines and power stations is available.

University of Coimbra (Stretchable Electronics)

Researchers at the University of Coimbra (Portugal) have developed a new stretchable conductive ink based on a liquid metal alloy gel. They are aiming to commercialize this technology for wearable/medical applications such as electronic skin patches.

Flexible PCBs with Unprecedented Opportunities for the Lighting Market

Lumitronix is a specialist for LED systems with in-house development and production for LED modules and controllers in southern Germany. For more than 10 years, the high-quality lighting solutions have been implemented with rigid PCBs.

Creative Materials Introduces Series of Electrically Conductive Films

Creative Materials introduces a series of isotropic and anisotropic B-stage electrically conductive adhesive films. The controlled reflow and high reliability of these adhesive films sets them apart from most other adhesive films.

Flexible Hybrid Electronics Requires New Component Attachment Material

Despite the promise of and the commercial interest in FHE, some technological challenges remain. One of the most important is developing the ability to robustly attach mounted components to flexible substrates, given the substantial difference in mechanical and thermal properties.

Printed Electronic Materials Market Forecast to Reach $6.9Bn by 2031

In total, IDTechEx Research forecast that the market for specialized solution processable materials for printed/flexible electronics will reach $6.9Bn by 2031.

Harting

Harting is a German company that manufactures a wide range of electrical, electronic and mechanical components, including connectors and 3D-MID devices. This profile focuses on their activities in 3D-MID, more specifically laser direct structuring (LDS).