Dielectric Properties of PEEK/PEI Blends as Substrate Material in High-Frequency Circuit Board Applications.

Substrate materials for printed circuit boards must meet ever-increasing requirements to keep up with electronics technology development. Especially in the field of high-frequency applications such as radar and cellular broadcasting, low permittivity and the dielectric loss factor are key material parameters. In this work, the dielectric properties of a high-temperature, thermoplastic PEEK/PEI blend system are investigated at frequencies of 5 and 10 GHz under dried and ambient conditions.

Injection Molding of Encapsulated Diffractive Optical Elements.

Microstructuring techniques, such as laser direct writing, enable the integration of microstructures into conventional polymer lens systems and may be used to generate advanced functionality. Hybrid polymer lenses combining multiple functions such as diffraction and refraction in a single component become possible. In this paper, a process chain to enable encapsulated and aligned optical systems with advanced functionality in a cost-efficient way is presented.

Adhesion-Induced Demolding Forces of Hard Coated Microstructures Measured with a Novel Injection Molding Tool.

The demolding of plastic parts remains a challenging aspect of injection molding. Despite various experimental studies and known solutions to reduce demolding forces, there is still not a complete understanding of the effects that occur. For this reason, laboratory devices and in-process measurement injection molding tools have been developed to measure demolding forces.

Direct Processing of PVD Hard Coatings via Focused Ion Beam Milling for Microinjection Molding.

Hard coatings can be applied onto microstructured molds to influence wear, form filling and demolding behaviors in microinjection molding. As an alternative to this conventional manufacturing procedure, "direct processing" of physical-vapor-deposited (PVD) hard coatings was investigated in this study, by fabricating submicron features directly into the coatings for a subsequent replication via molding. Different diamondlike carbon (DLC) and chromium nitride (CrN) PVD coatings were investigated regarding their suitability for focused ion beam (FIB) milling and microinjection molding using microscope imaging and areal roughness measurements.

Review on Excess Noise Measurements of Resistors.

Increasing demands for precision electronics require individual components such as resistors to be specified, as they can be the limiting factor within a circuit. To specify quality and long-term stability of resistors, noise measurements are a common method. This review briefly explains the theoretical background, introduces the noise index and provides an insight on how this index can be compared to other existing parameters.

Inkjet-Printed Temperature Sensors Characterized according to Standards.

This paper describes the characterization of inkjet-printed resistive temperature sensors according to the international standard IEC 61928-2. The goal is to evaluate such sensors comprehensively, to identify important manufacturing processes, and to generate data for inkjet-printed temperature sensors according to the mentioned standard for the first time, which will enable future comparisons across different publications. Temperature sensors were printed with a silver nanoparticle ink on injection-molded parts.

Assembly of Surface-Mounted Devices on Flexible Substrates by Isotropic Conductive Adhesive and Solder and Lifetime Characterization.

The assembly of passive components on flexible electronics is essential for the functionalization of circuits. For this purpose, adhesive bonding technology by isotropic conductive adhesive (ICA) is increasingly used in addition to soldering processes. Nevertheless, a comparative study, especially for bending characterization, is not available.

Towards Reliable Parameter Extraction in MEMS Final Module Testing Using Bayesian Inference.

In micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) testing high overall precision and reliability are essential. Due to the additional requirement of runtime efficiency, machine learning methods have been investigated in recent years. However, these methods are often associated with inherent challenges concerning uncertainty quantification and guarantees of reliability.

Use of PtC Nanotips for Low-Voltage Quantum Tunneling Applications.

The use of focused ion and focused electron beam (FIB/FEB) technology permits the fabrication of micro- and nanometer scale geometries. Therefore, FIB/FEB technology is a favorable technique for preparing TEM lamellae, nanocontacts, or nanowires and repairing electronic circuits. This work investigates FIB/FEB technology as a tool for nanotip fabrication and quantum mechanical tunneling applications at a low tunneling voltage.

Characterization and Benchmark of a Novel Capacitive and Fluidic Inclination Sensor.

In this paper, a fluidic capacitive inclination sensor is presented and compared to three types of silicon-based microelectromechanical system (MEMS) accelerometers. MEMS accelerometers are commonly used for tilt measurement. They can only be manufactured by large companies with clean-room technology due to the high requirements during assembly.

Characterization of a PCB Based Pressure Sensor and Its Joining Methods for the Metal Membrane.

Essential quality features of pressure sensors are, among other accuracy-related factors, measurement range, operating temperature, and long-term stability. In this work, these features are optimized for a capacitive pressure sensor with a measurement range of 10 bars. The sensor consists of a metal membrane, which is connected to a PCB and a digital capacitive readout.

Embedding of Ultrathin Chips in Highly Flexible, Photosensitive Solder Mask Resist.

This work presents an embedding process for ultrathin silicon chips in mechanically flexible solder mask resist and their electrical contacting by inkjet printing. Photosensitive solder mask resist is applied by conformal spray coating onto epoxy bonded ultrathin chips with a daisy chain layout. The contact pads are opened by photolithography using UV direct light exposure.

Feasibility Study of Soft Tooling Inserts for Injection Molding with Integrated Automated Slides.

The production of injection-molding prototypes, e.g., molded interconnect devices (MID) prototypes, can be costly and time-consuming due to the process-specific inability to replace durable steel tooling with quicker fabricated aluminum tooling.

Development and Proof of Concept of a Miniaturized MEMS Quantum Tunneling Accelerometer Based on PtC Tips by Focused Ion Beam 3D Nano-Patterning.

Most accelerometers today are based on the capacitive principle. However, further miniaturization for micro integration of those sensors leads to a poorer signal-to-noise ratio due to a small total area of the capacitor plates. Thus, other transducer principles should be taken into account to develop smaller sensors.

Soft Tooling-Friendly Inductive Mold Heating-A Novel Concept.

In order to economize injection molded prototypes, additive manufacturing of, e.g., curable plastics based tools, can be employed, which is known as soft tooling.

Bending Setups for Reliability Investigation of Flexible Electronics.

Flexible electronics is a rapidly growing technology for a multitude of applications. Wearables and flexible displays are some application examples. Various technologies and processes are used to produce flexible electronics.

Feasibility Study of an Automated Assembly Process for Ultrathin Chips.

This paper presents a feasibility study of an automated pick-and-place process for ultrathin chips on a standard automatic assembly machine. So far, scientific research about automated assembly of ultrathin chips, with thicknesses less than 50 µm, is missing, but is necessary for cost-effective, high-quantity production of system-in-foil for applications in narrow spaces or flexible smart health systems applied in biomedical applications. Novel pick-and-place tools for ultrathin chip handling were fabricated and a process for chip detachment from thermal release foil was developed.

Inkjet-Printing of Nanoparticle Gold and Silver Ink on Cyclic Olefin Copolymer for DNA-Sensing Applications.

Inkjet technology as a maskless, direct-writing technology offers the potential for structured deposition of functional materials for the realization of electrodes for, e.g., sensing applications.

Review on Fabrication Technologies for Optical Mold Inserts.

Polymer optics have gained increasing importance in recent years. With advancing requirements for the optical components, the fabrication process remains a challenge. In particular, the fabrication of the mold inserts for the replication process is crucial for obtaining high-quality optical components.

Injection Compression Molded Microlens Arrays for Hyperspectral Imaging.

In this work, a polymer microlens array (MLA) for a hyperspectral imaging (HSI) system is produced by means of ultraprecision milling (UP-milling) and injection compression molding. Due to the large number of over 12,000 microlenses on less than 2 cm², the fabrication process is challenging and requires full process control. The study evaluates the process chain and optimizes the single process steps to achieve high quality polymer MLAs.

Flexible Packaging by Film Assisted Molding for Microintegration of Inertia Sensors.

Packaging represents an important part in the microintegration of sensors based on microelectromechanical system (MEMS). Besides miniaturization and integration density, functionality and reliability in combination with flexibility in packaging design at moderate costs and consequently high-mix, low-volume production are the main requirements for future solutions in packaging. This study investigates possibilities employing printed circuit board (PCB-)based assemblies to provide high flexibility for circuit designs together with film assisted transfer molding (FAM) to package sensors.