Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1476200
78 PCB007 MAGAZINE I AUGUST 2022 • RFID inlays/tags and Smart cards, e-passport/ID cards • Electroluminescence, touch panels and other displays • Automotive and telecom • Medical and diagnostic devices • Heater circuits • Replacement of gold plating on switches As it competes with dry film photoresists, inkjet technology still has some significant challenges for the machine manufacturers to overcome, including making sharp corners (drops will always produce a curve), getting track edges as smooth and straight as possible, replicating standard industry practices such as tenting, and ensuring printhead maintenance programs to avoid nozzle blockages, but it's on its way. PCB007 References 1. Columns by Karl Dietz in The PCB Magazine: Tech Talk #73, October 2001; Tech Talk #137, Feb- ruary 2007. 2. "Digital and Environmental Circuit Board Man- ufacturing Based on Continuous Laser Assisted Deposition," Ralph Birnbaum, et al, IPC APEX 2022. 3. "The Use of Inkjet Printing Technology for Fab- ricating Electronic Circuits—The Promise and the Practical," by Thomas Sutter and Brian Amos, IPC APEX EXPO 2012. 4. "Customizable Capacitive Sensor System Using Printed Electronics on Window Glass," by Jan Frohlich, et al, SMTA Pan Pacific Symposium 2020. 5. "Inkjet Printing for Printed Electronics," by Ashlok Sridhar, Fraunhofer Research Institute for Electronic Nano Systems (ENAS), Material Matters, Volume 6 Article 1, 2019. Happy Holden has worked in printed circuit technology since 1970 with Hewlett- Packard, NanYa Westwood, Merix, Foxconn, and Gentex. He is currently a contributing technical editor with I-Connect007, and the author of Automation and Advanced Procedures in PCB Fabrication, and 24 Essential Skills for Engineers. To read past columns, click here. Figure 7: Prediction of the growth of inkjet printhead sales for consumer, industrial, and graphics printing. (Source: YOLE Development 3 )