High-throughput Printing of Micro and Nanoscale Interconnects, and Passive and Active Electronics Elements for Heterogeneous Integration and Advanced Packaging Applications

Abstract

We introduce a new additive manufacturing technology for making electronics that is estimated to cost up to 100 times less than conventional semiconductor manufacturing. The technology significantly reduces the infrastructure and operating cost, power, water, chemical use, and reduces the materials used in fabrication by three orders of magnitude. This new technology enables allowing device designers the use of any organic or inorganic semiconducting, conductive, or insulating material on flexible or rigid substrates. The new technology is enabled by directed assembly-based nanoscale printing at room temperature and pressure and can print 1000 faster and 1000 smaller (down to 25 nm) structures than inkjet-based printing. The nanoscale printing platform enables the heterogeneous integration of interconnected circuit layers, printed electronics (passive and active electronics components), and sensors on flexible or rigid substrates. The directed assembly-based printing processes were specifically created to be scalable, environmentally sustainable, and enable precise and repeatable control of the assembly of various nanomaterials at very high rates. This allows the printing of passive and active components monolithically on an interposer platform along with interconnects for redistribution layers such that the total footprint can be within a few mm of the original IC footprint. The new technology has demonstrated the printing of several devices including transistors, inverters, diodes, displays, chemical, and biosensors, and interconnects using a variety of nanomaterials at the nano and microscale.