More About Inkjet and Other Direct Write Techniques

While looking at highlights from this year's APEX/IPC EXPO I came across this recent article on Circuitree's web site. It goes much further in depth regarding direct write techniques.

The Future of Direct Writing in Electronics

Inkjet Printed Circuit Boards?

I was reading about the technology that Epson used to create a printed circuit board using a specialized inkjet technology and alternating conductive/insulating inks. I originally read an article in Maximum PC over two months after the Epson press release. So...perhaps it's not as newsworthy as one would immediately presume. At least not to PCB insiders.

Anyways, it is quite interesting, and people who know little about the PCB industry think it is this incredibly enabling new technology. It may be, but I'm a bit skeptical. Haven't three or four other "advanced" additive type processes been introduced in the last fifteen or so years? I seem to recall a company in Dallas that had a machine that would lay down actual insulated wires on a substrate. I worked on some software that converted Gerber files into files that could drive that machine. Also very interesting technology, and I remember thinking "why can't we just print with conductive ink?". This was around 1995 or so, I think...I wonder if they're still around.

This technology certainly may lead to some interesting developments, but there are some unanswered questions for sure. For example, what is the current carrying capacity of the circuits? Also, how does one affix components to the thing? Remember that with a circuit board, the circuits only exist to provide connections between the components, and the board only exists to have something for the components to stick to. To people who do not make their living in the bare-board industry, the board itself is not terribly interesting (unless of course its a video card with black soldermask and flourescent yellow letterscreen :). It is the components that are interesting. They are the flashy ones, the attention getters. The GPU and 12 memory pipes are the star quarterback and wide receiver on a hot new video card. The PCB is more like the offensive linemen. It just kind of holds all the stuff together, and fits into that AGP or PCI Express slot.

I wonder if they can control circuit impedences? Maybe they can develop ink with differing dielectric constant. Maybe like a standard color inkjet cartridge, with three different dielectric materials, and they can spray it on in differing quantities to get the right DK, kind of like how an inkjet does color mixing. Or maybe they could build up dielectric with multiple passes. Or perhaps even add specific DK to the conductor itself.

While reading the article, I realized that someone should tell Epson about Laser Direct Imaging. They seem to make quite a big deal out of the fact that the inkjet technology doesn't need "photomasks" (they must mean phototools ;)

Something I noticed in the Epson press release, their research was funded by a Japanese government agency, whose ultimate goal is apparently " ... to bring about the realization of a ubiquitous computing society." So, I'm looking for a farm in North Dakota...

Real Jobs

I was talking via IM to an industry friend of mine in Brussels, when I suddenly came to the realization that since entering the PCB industry in 1989, I have never had what I would consider a "real" job. You know, the kind where you punch in at 7, punch out at 3 (or even 9 to 5), get quarterly reviews and all that.

Not that every job I've had wasn't plenty "real" in the really real kind of sense... First, it was a sleep-deprived, highly caffeinated slog though endless mountains of artwork in a service bureau, then on to the fire-fighting, shifting priority world of a software vendor (it was there, incidentally, in about 1996 when my buddy JP re-intoduced me to Tums and Tylenol as "engineer candy")... now the life of a consultant. I recently read an article about IT consulting subtitled "Why work for someone else 8 hours a day when you can work for yourself 16". It's more like 18, but who's counting.

Trade magazines

I have just happily created links to some trade magazines on my website [www.solidigm.com].

For some reason, I can't seem to get subscribed to these magazines...I send in my subscription forms over and over again. Funny, when I worked for Orbotech, I got trade magazines I never even subscribed to. Now they send me faxes wanting me to advertise in their magazines, but never send me the magazines. I guess this is the life of a lowly consultant :(

It's ok, though. I just got an email from "a very close and personal assistance to the late Head of State of Nigeria", and it looks like I'll be wealthy soon!

what now

Ok, so I've got this blog. I'm not really sure what to do with it. Kinda like when I first learned Python back in about '96. I just kinda said "hey...THAT is cool...now what".

So, I'll simply start writing things and if I'm doing it wrong, I'm sure I'll hear about it.

I think I'll start by writing about all the wierd...I mean interesting...people I've met and worked with during my time in the PCB industry. I'll certainly not use actual names...or maybe only of the people I don't like :-)

Initial post

Looks like I need to create an initial post for my blog to show up....how odd. I guess I'm still learning. Perhaps I should hire a 12-year old to do my web stuff...