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April 2009

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Subject:
From:
Joe Fjelstad <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
TechNet E-Mail Forum <[log in to unmask]>, [log in to unmask]
Date:
Tue, 7 Apr 2009 10:37:02 EDT
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Good Morning Syed, 
 
Are you interest in the process or the processing equipment? It is not  
certain from your question. 
 
There are few supplier of equipment and some folks out there now printing  
circuits in such a fashion but the roots are pretty deep. I was involved in such 
 a project in 1990 when we printed catalytic toners on to web using laser  
printers at a start-up I helped found called ELF (Extended Length Flex)  
Technologies but it was too early for the market. 
 
At APEX last week Conductive Injet Technology showed parts from a  system 
they have developed that works along a similar line but can produce  much finer 
features. Flex circuit veteran Joel Yocum is involved and you can see  a video 
of him and his colleague Steve Thomas talking about the system on "Real  Time 
with IPC" on the PCB007 web site. 
 
Sheldahl has been producing print and etch circuits in roll to roll fashion  
for many years and TAB circuits have been produced in such fashion for roughly 
 40 years. There are lot of interesting variations on the theme. Roll cutters 
 were used in the 1960s as well to cut/punch the circuit patterned out and  
bond them to films and flex circuit  pioneer and co-inventor of the  rigid-flex 
circuit (back in 1966, by the way),Tom Stearns, showed a process  for 
embossing and fly cutting circuits. 
 
Sheldahl and Phillips worked on a roll to roll assembly system with a  reflow 
oven that was on rails but I am not certain how many installations there  
were. 
 
One of the things that captured my interest 19 years ago was the  potential 
of printing technology to allow for an economical run  unit of one in the 
middle of a production run and the potential for a  manufacturing operation that 
was prioritized and "run" by the customers.  The fact that one can drop in a 
unit of one in the middle of a production run  without interruption is very 
powerful from a economic and time to market  point of view. I sense that it will 
happen one day but there is a lot of  software and business logistics to work on 
in advance of that. 
 
Today there are intrinsically conductive and semiconductive polymers in the  
market and on the way that could change the face of  circuit manufacturing 
technology in the future.  There are  interesting times ahead.
 
Hope this helps a little.
 
Best wishes,
Joe     
**************Worried about job security? Check out the 5 safest jobs in a 
recession. 
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