Ultra-Micro 3D Printing. We've been examining the work of EoPlex, a manufacturer that uses a proprietary 3D print technology to produce astonishingly tiny devices and structures, typically for electronics packaging.
The EoPlex "basic design rules" state: Minimum object length of a mere 1mm, with a maximum of 200mmFeature size as low as 25 micronsLayer size between 5 and 500 micronsUp to five different materials per layerMaterials include Glass-ceramics, Piezoelectrics, several Oxides, dielectrics, nickel alloys, stainless steel, iron, palladium, silver, gold and platinum as well as polymer fillers EoPlex sells the HVPF FAB, which can perform these amazing feats of printing. EoPlex Technologies - Home. 3-D Printing Could Make Smartphone Chips Cheaper. First, some apologies to all of you in the packaging industry: I find packaging one of the least interesting, hardest-to-spin-into-an-engaging-story corners of the semiconducting industry.
But Eoplex CEO Arthur Chait stopped by IEEE Spectrum yesterday to show me what he expects will be a revolution in chip packaging, and I must admit it has me thinking differently. Eoplex, developer of a 3D printing technology used to make high-end cellphone antennas and other small, complicated contraptions, really might make packaging sexy. Here’s a little background on Eoplex, because you’ve probably never heard of it. A California startup, Eoplex has come up with a combination of secret sauces and manufacturing techniques that lets it print sub-micron size voxels of stuff to mass produce 3D objects. Breed! Breed.
Packaging.