Tag: semiconductor wafers

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Electronic Components

3D printing of electronic components

3D Printing

3D Printing of Electronic Components

We talk a lot about the ways modern technology are a benefit to the electronics industry. There’s no better example of this than the ability to 3D print electronic components.

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The first 3D printer was invented in the 1980s, and used a technique called stereolithography (SLA). You might recognise the term from photolithography, a process used in the manufacturing of semiconductor wafers. Stereolithography is slightly different, it uses a laser to harden layers of photopolymer successively in a pre-defined shape. Photolithography is for etching patterns onto semiconductor wafers.

SLA is still the most commonly-used method of 3D printing. There are, however, other methods that have come into use, including digital light processing and liquid crystal display.

With the printing of components or circuits that can conduct electricity, special inks that contain conductive nanomaterials are required.

The process

First, a digital model of the desired component is required. This is referred to as a Computer Aided Design, or CAD model. Then a base layer of the material, usually thermoplastics, is formed using fused deposition modelling (FDM).

After this a trace is created, which is the little web of wiring you can see on a regular PCB. These traces need to be much thicker on a 3D-printed board because the nano-inks naturally carry more resistance than copper.

Once this is complete, the additional components of the board are added in layers until it is finished.

Why use 3D printing?

The process of retooling an entire factory setup versus uploading a different design to a single machine are vastly different. Retooling can be a costly and painstaking process, especially if you are manufacturing on a small scale or just prototyping.

The flexibility that comes with 3D printing is also an advantage. Where regular machinery may have limitations, 3D printing could have significantly fewer.

There would also be a reduction in the waste produced by the process. Most of the time, boards are manufactured and then the excess material is cut away. With 3D printing there would be remarkably less waste produced as it only prints what is needed.

3D printing of electronic components is currently used for small batches or for rapid prototyping, but in the future it could easily be used for more complex components and larger batches.

Just a reminder

Although Lantek does not specialise in 3D printers, we do specialise in electronic components of all kinds, and can supply stock as and when you need it. Make Lantek your electronic component supplier.

This blog is meant for informational purposes only and is in no way instructional.

Categories
Electronic Components Semiconductor

Why are semiconductors so important to so many industries?

Is There a Passive Component Shortage?

Why are semiconductors so important to so many industries?

The semiconductor chip has done more to connect the world than any other technology, but why is it so important to so many industries?  

Semiconductors are materials used to make semiconductor wafers. Which potentially millions of components are fabricated, to create an integrated circuit (IC), creating a single chip that can be used for computation or other tasks.

Semiconductors are important to so many industries because they are an essential electronic component. Whether we are talking about the semiconductor material (silicon, silicon carbide) or the chips that perform tasks.  

To understand why semiconductors are so important to so many industries, let’s take a step back and clarify what a semiconductor actually is.

What is a semiconductor?

A semiconductor is a material that partly conducts current, somewhere between that of an insulator and a conductor (hence the name semi-conductor).

A semiconductor chip is an integrated circuit (IC) formed on a wafer of silicon, consisting of the semiconductor material that manages the flow and control of current, and components like transistors and resistors to create the circuit.

When talking about semiconductors in relation to chips, we use the names “chips” or “semis’” because these names are more accurate for describing circuits laid down or grown to do computation or other tasks like memory.

Why are semiconductors so important?

In 1947, the first semiconductor transistor was made. Engineers quickly realized that manufacturing transistors out of silicon allowed them to fit on a microchip, which opened the gates to all the electronics you use today.

Without semiconductor chips, modern electronics would not exist. These inconspicuous, tiny components replaced tubes in electronics in the 1970s, laying the foundation for every electrical device used today, including the screen you’re looking at.

Today, all modern electrical devices use semiconductor chips, from home ovens to smartphones and cars. Billions of semiconductors are manufactured each year, and they are getting smaller and smarter with each generation.

Powering our smart, connected world

As we discussed earlier, semiconductor chips are single electronic components consisting of thousands or millions of electrical components, enabling functions like computation, memory, oscillation, switching, logic, amplification, and so on.

Without this single component with an integrated circuit, there would be no way to efficiently make the circuits we need to create smart, connected devices in their current form. Quite literally, chips are the reason you are reading this.

With an insatiable appetite for semiconductor chips, it’s a good job the material we use to make the wafers – silicon – is naturally abundant.

Today, most chips are built on silicon, which makes up 27.7% of the earth’s crust, or silicon carbide, a compound tweaked for performance.

However, our demand for chips is outstripping supply. There is a global semiconductor shortage underway affecting all industries, with the automotive industry hardest hit due to a perfect storm that has been building for years.

Electronic components distributors like Lantek are helping supply meet demand, while the semiconductor industry battles to make more chips.

If you are having difficulty finding those hard-to-find and obsolete electronic components. Get in touch with our team today by emailing sales@lantekcorp.com or call 1-973-579-8100