Production Of Electronic Circuits Research Articles

The influence of radiation on the characteristics of superinsulator films

The paper considers the effect of radiation exposure on the characteristics of the superinsulator phase using Monte Carlo simulation of radiation transport through superinsulator films. The unique physical properties of the superinsulator state are captured by a 2-D array model of Josephson junctions to describe the structure of the material. Simulations were carried out for different film thicknesses, as well as for radiation beams of different geometries. In the assessment of radiation resistance, the Monte Carlo method of simulating the passage of radiation through the material and the deposition of energy gives good results. Using numerical simulation, along with a precise definition of the problem from the point of view of the characteristics of the radiation field and the observed material environment, it is possible to predict the response of thin superinsulator films to ionizing radiation. Based on the obtained results, suggestions were given for the possibility of further application of superinsulator materials in the production of electronic circuits.

Gerber File Parsing for Conversion to Bitmap Image–The VINCI7D Case Study

The technological market is increasingly evolving as evidenced by the innovative and streamlined manufacturing processes. Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) are widely employed in the electronics fabrication industry, resorting to the Gerber open standard format to transfer the manufacturing data. The Gerber format describes not only metadata related to the manufacturing process but also the PCB image. To be able to map the electronic circuit pattern to be printed, a parser to convert Gerber files into a bitmap image is required. The current literature as well as available Gerber viewers and libraries showed limitations mainly in the Gerber format support, focusing only on a subset of commands. In this work, the development of a recursive descent approach for parsing Gerber files is described, outlining its interpretation and the renderization of 2D bitmap images. All the defined commands in the specification based on Gerber X2 generation were successfully rendered, unlike the tested commercial parsers used in the experiments. Moreover, the obtained results were comparable to those parsers regarding the commands they can execute as well as the ground-truth, emphasizing the accuracy of the proposed approach. Its top-down and recursive architecture allows easy integration with other software regardless of the platform, highlighting its potential inclusion and integration in the production of electronic circuits.

3D-printing of a complete modular ion mobility spectrometer

Three-dimensional printing (3D-printing) is an asset for rapid prototyping. Therefore, this technology is applied in amateur, fundamental as well as in applied research communities. Moreover, the fused deposition modeling even allows a cheap and fast 3D-printing of functional filaments such as conductive or ferro-magnetic materials. Further applicable materials enable the production of electronic circuits, electrodes or even complete analytical sensors.Here, a 3D-printed stand-alone drift tube ion mobility spectrometer (IMS) completely manufactured in one process is presented. The ionization chamber, the Bradbury-Nielsen gate, the partly conductive drift tube, and the detector including an aperture grid and a Faraday plate were printed by dual extrusion 3D-printing. Therefore, non-conductive polylactic acid (PLA) was utilized for the housing and conductive PLA was used for the electrodes, the ion gate and the detector. Due to a magnetic quick lock system and a modular design, each part of this innovative ion mobility spectrometer can be exchanged in an instant. All parts were validated individually and as a whole by comparing them to an ion mobility spectrometer produced by computerized numerical control machining consisting of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE).To investigate the performance, parameters regarding the resolution, resolving power, signal-to-noise ratio, running-in period and long-term stability were used involving a set of isomeric volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Notably, every single 3D-printed component as well as the completely 3D-printed IMS could keep up with the traditionally produced ones. Furthermore, the signal intensity was comparable to the signal intensity of the PTFE-IMS in exemplary optimization steps. The resolution, resolving power and signal-to-noise ratio could be improved by the variation of the Bradbury-Nielsen gate design, thus demonstrating the potential of the 3D-printing for design optimization and rapid prototyping of analytical instrumentation.

Dynamic Programming Algorithms for Two-Machine Hybrid Flow-Shop Scheduling With a Given Job Sequence and Deadline

In “Shared Manufacturing” environment, orders are processed in a given job sequence which is based on the time of receipt of orders. This paper studies a problem of scheduling two-task jobs in a two-machine hybrid flow-shop subject to a given job sequence which is used in production of electronic circuits under shared manufacturing. Each job has two tasks: the first one is a flexible task, which can be processed on either of the two machines, and the second one is a preassigned task, which can only be processed on the second machine after the first task is finished. Each job has a processing deadline. Three objective functions related to deadlines are considered. The computational complexity of the problem for any of three objective functions is showed to be ordinary NP-hard, a dynamic programming algorithm (DPA) is presented for each case and the time complexity of each algorithm is given. The results of computational experiments show the relationship between the running time of DPA and the parameters, and also show the advantages of DPA in dealing with this problem compared with branch-and-bound algorithm and iterated greedy algorithm.

3D Inkjet Printing of Electronics Using UV Conversion

AbstractThe production of electronic circuits and devices is limited by current manufacturing methods that limit both the form and potentially the performance of these systems. Additive manufacturing (AM) is a technology that has been shown to provide cross‐sectoral manufacturing industries with significant geometrical freedom. A research domain known as multifunctional AM (MFAM) in its infancy looks to couple the positive attributes of AM with application in the electronics sector can have a significant impact on the development of new products; however, there are significant hurdles to overcome. This paper reports on the single step MFAM of 3D electronic circuitry within a polymeric structure using a combination of conductive and nonconductive materials within a single material jetting‐based AM system. The basis of this breakthrough is a study of the optical absorption regions of a silver nanoparticle (AgNP) conductive ink which leads to a novel method to rapidly process and sinter AgNP inks in ambient conditions using simple UV radiation contemporaneously with UV‐curing of deposited polymeric structures.

Controlled assembly of In_2O_3 nanowires on electronic circuits using scanning optical tweezers

In(2)O(3) nanowires can be used effectively as building blocks in the production of electronic circuits used in transparent and flexible electronic devices. The fabrication of these devices requires a controlled assembly of nanowires at crucial places and times. However, this kind of controlled assembly, which results in the fusion of nanowires to circuits, is still very difficult to execute. In this study, we demonstrate the benefits of using various lengths of In(2)O(3) nanowires by using non-contact mechanisms, such as scanning optical tweezers, to place them on designated targets during the fabrication process. Furthermore, these nanowires can be stabilized at both ends of the conducting wires using a focused laser, and later in the process, the annealed technique, so that proper flow of electrons is affected.