Direct
manufacturing of customized end-use electronic products
is becoming an emerging trend of additive manufacturing (AM). This
highly demands the evolution of the conventional AM processes from
simply building single-material parts to simultaneously delivering
complex structures and end-use functionalities. In this work, we propose
a novel hybrid additive manufacturing solution that combines stereolithography
(SLA) three-dimensional (3D) printing and laser-activated electroless
plating for the manufacture of 3D fully functional electronic products.
With our newly developed functional SLA resin that can be 3D printed,
laser-activated, and thereafter selectively metalized, high-resolution
circuitry can be free-formly patterned on 3D structures. In virtue
of high-performance electrical materials, this technology is capable
of creating not only 3D direct-current (DC) electronics but also 3D
high-frequency devices like microwave/millimeter-wave antennas, which
cannot be fabricated via traditional printed circuit board (PCB) technology
and not even by most AM processes. This study represents a significant
advance in additive manufacturing technologies, and more importantly
offers a unique opportunity for the mass customization of fully functional
3D electronic products, which shows great potentials in consumer electronics,
communication engineering, and automobile and aerospace industries.
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