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52 SMT007 MAGAZINE I JUNE 2023 ISO 14000 family of documents 3 around envi- ronmental management. Last updated in 2021, the 14001 standard establishes an environmen- tal management system built to contribute toward sustainability. Yet, even as these standards are developed and conversations are happening across the electronics community, actionable change is slow to come. Electronics manufacturing, for example, contributed 5.9 million metric tons (MMT) of carbon dioxide equivalent to green- house gas emissions in 2020 alone 4 . is casts a spotlight on the unsustainable methodologies currently involved in the electronics industry and begs the question, "Is it possible to be sus- tainable within electronics manufacturing?" Introducing Additive Processing To truly start incorporating sustainability into our manufacturing processes, we need a clean slate. By rethinking how we manufacture and package electronics, including the meth- ods and materials we are using, we can invoke real change. One significant way we have decreased the number of steps involved, while simultaneously decreasing the waste involved, is through additive manufacturing elements. We commonly see additive manufacturing looped in with basic 3D printing efforts, but it can be applied to a variety of different pro- cesses. e basic definition of additive manu- facturing is material being deposited, joined, or solidified under computer control, with each material added together, layer by layer. However, in the electronics realm, "addi- tive manufacturing" seems counterintuitive. At first thought, hearing this term would lead you to believe there are additional steps in the manufacturing process and, inherently, more waste. Actually, the integration of additive pro- cesses into our current electronics manufac- turing methodologies provides several envi- ronmental benefits by eliminating many "sub- tractive" processing steps that lead to waste. Printed Patterns One common practice for making circuit boards involves lithography to create patterns and then etching away unwanted material. In additive processing, the patterns are simply printed. is eliminates several steps and the waste associated with the removal. We've dem- onstrated this through our assembly of flexible hybrid electronics (FHEs) and wrote about this from a packaging perspective 5 . In that arti- cle, we established how a circuit board can be additively printed on a low-cost, flexible sub- strate. If we analyze this shi in advanced pack- aging from a sustainability perspective, we see that the integration of additive manufacturing also makes it more sustainable. Unnecessary Packaging Another advantage of additive manufactur- ing is found in eliminating unnecessary pack- aging of individual components or chips and attaching them directly to a printed circuit. Imagine adding the raw component within the layers of the board which can offer never- before-seen interconnectivity opportunities and miniaturization for electronic compo- nents. is system-level packaging also means you are eradicating unnecessary steps in the Art Wall