Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1443477
48 PCB007 MAGAZINE I JANUARY 2022 got an audio book about Johannes von Guten- berg this Christmas. I was not so familiar with the details of the story, which was that it took about 17 years before the idea was turned into printing the first Bible on 648 pages. In the process, he developed the type of artwork, the color, and the printing process over all those years and improved them again and again. But I don't want to wait that long. Today, we can print color daily newspapers with detailed images in runs of millions within one night. From my point of view, the process technol- ogy of the second development generation is commercially available on the market. us, a door has been opened to introduce future improvements. e input for the iterations comes from the demands of the machine sup- pliers, but also from market expectations. Johnson: Where is AME finding application currently? Nulman: Most of the users today are focused on RF applications and unique solutions required by the defense industry. Some companies are using AME for in-house prototyping, verifica- tion, and optimization of new designs, hence reducing the product release cycle time. Schleicher: Here at SEMIKRON, probably like many other companies, we have asked our- selves where additive manufacturing processes can help us to manufacture our prod- ucts and applications easier, faster, cheaper or the same cost, by imple- menting more functionality. Here, demonstrations help to show simple problems and solutions for this. An important aspect, however, is whether the new methods offer the possibility of solving previous problems in a sim- pler and more elegant way. From our point of view, the current applications of the technology are in the field of research and prototyping. In my opinion, it is very important to con- sider how this technology can be implemented from the designer's point of view. Because of this I worked on the IPC presentation. Johnson: Is AME being used in production environments today? Nulman: Some low-volume, very high-perfor- mance circuits are being fabricated by AME technology. As the electronics industry learns the capabilities of this technology and commits to it, the equipment and materials will evolve to high throughputs and state-of-the-art per- formance that will enable the volume produc- tion. In addition, the CAD systems will evolve to enable the freedom of design and incorpo- rate ECAD and 3D MCAD features. Schleicher: A company in Germany bought the machine few years ago and is working on prod- uct ideas and applications. During my visit a year ago, I was able to talk intensively with the user of the machine. However, the company works in the field of defense, and we exchanged only general experiences. PCB007 References 1. www.3d-mid.de 2. www.oe-a.org Michael Schleicher is a PCB designer in Development IPM, Systems, Design and Lab, SEMIKRON Elektronik GmhH & Co. KG.