I-Connect007 Magazine

I007-MAY-2026

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18 I-CONNECT007 MAGAZINE I MAY 2026 I had already spent time scaling metal- lization technologies commercially, so there was a natural fit. From there, the idea behind Elec- troninks really took shape. We saw an opportunity to develop materi- als that could be deposited in a much more agile, additive way, es- pecially for semiconductor metalliza- tion, advanced packaging, substrates, and PCBs. That combination of chemistry and manufacturability became the foundation for the company. Let's talk about your product, which is described as "particle-free metal complex inks." Is that a fundamental shift from nanoparticle-based systems? Please explain its significance. "Particle-free" is really more of a marketing term. Technically, these are metal complex conductive inks. With nanoparticle inks, the particles have to fuse together, and to keep them stable in solution, you need organic components to prevent agglomeration. The challenge is those organics remain in the printed film, and unless you cure at high temperatures, they can limit performance and reliability. What we've done is take precursor chemistries— similar to what's used in ALD (atomic layer depo- sition) or CVD (chemical vapor deposition)—and adapt them into a printable ink. That allows you to metallize surfaces without vacuum processing or high-temperature deposition. The key advantage is that these metal complex inks don't rely on those organic stabilizers, so the resulting film behaves much more like a pure metal layer, similar to what you'd see with electroless deposition or PVD (physical vapor deposition) in semiconductor backend processes. Is it a purer ink with better metallization because of it, and is that why you can reach 90% bulk metal? Does it reach a higher concentration without other additives? Yes, but the overall performance depends upon many other process factors. In general, we can reach higher levels of conductivity and reliability at the same, or even lower, curing tem- peratures. That is the best way to look at it. They offer lower, faster-curing profiles than conventional nanopar- ticle links. In the past, Electroninks has given presentations aboutmetal complex inks, but are you also talking about equipment in your suite of solutions for additive manufacturing? Yes, we partner with many printing compa- nies, including spray coaters, inkjet, and aerosol jet companies. We make sure our materials are compatible with their tools, and then customers can have a full solution with the tooling and inks. There are a few integrators that pull it all together. Primarily, our customers will be the OSATs or the IDMs, but you know the story: OSATs and IDMs may not work well with ink/materials companies directly. They need total solutions, someone to tie everything together. Will you talk about a couple of your process platforms: Circuit Jet and Circuit Shield? Circuit Shield is the trademark name for the silver metal-complex ink used in our EMI shielding solu- tion. Circuit Jet is our all-in-one, standalone PCB printer, now marketed to the defense and aero- space industry. It's a standalone, not a production line. It's used to make or repair specialized boards. Everything you're doing seems like a natural evolution, but was there a specific impetus that led to creating a printer? The company started with CircuitScribe, a kit that helps students learn the basics of electron- ics—the breadboard back in our day. Along similar lines, CircuitScribe uses a conductive ink pen to help teach the basics of electronics. So, at our core, we've always looked to build products and have a consumer-facing business. The next step up was Circuit Jet. Originally, the idea was a very basic printer for DIY printing of simple circuits and boards. However, some customers picked it up and asked us to build a printer specifically capable of handling advanced aerospace and Melbs LeMieux

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