One area Nano Dimension has targeted for growth is components needed to drive the IoT.
By: Don Nelson
Nano Dimension builds machines for additively manufacturing printed electronics used in the medical, aerospace, telecommunications, defense, and automotive industries.
The company’s DragonFly Pro System simultaneously 3D-prints dielectric polymers and conductive metals.
The Israeli firm, which has an office in Santa Clara, Calif., has identified the Internet of Things as a major growth area.
Two key components make up IoT systems: sensors and connectivity devices (RFID tags and antennas). Both are electronic components that are multilayered in nature. Manufacturing these printed-circuit-board components layer by layer with copper etching or other traditional subtractive-manufacturing methods, followed by post-processing steps to combine them into a PCB, can take days to weeks, according to Nano Dimension.
“DragonFly Pro’s suite of nano-inks, 3D-optimized software, and high-precision 3D printer allows the entire process, from design to production, to be done in-house and in one single workshop,” says the company. “As the final product is 3D-printed in one automated process to its final form without the need for any post-processing, total manufacturing time can be reduced to a few hours.”
The company, whose tagline is “Electrifying Additive Manufacturing,” recently posted an interesting blog called “IoT and Additive Manufacturing: Towards an Intelligent and Connected World of Electronics.” Click here to read it.
A 3D-printed PCB for an RF amplifier, built on Nano Dimension’s DragonFly Pro.