On Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 10:06 PM, Brendan Moran <annirack@shaw.ca> wrote:

> Based on these issues, I've been looking for another solution for
> printing conductive material.
> The broad requirements for the material are these:
> 1. Must be printable, that is it must be possible to load a syringe up
> with the material, squeeze it out onto the substrate, and let it cure.
> Two-part compounds would be alright provided that a mechanism for
> clearing the print nozzle is practical.
> 2. Must be conductive, at least as conductive as gold (Ag>Cu>Al>Au)
> 3. Must be readily available, this material should be something that can
> be made easily or purchased easily.  Ideally, I'd like it to be less
> expensive than conductive epoxy. ($26 for 6mL seems pricey to me)
> 4. Must not require high temperature baking (>150C)
> 5. Should not require lengthy cure time, this will slow fabing
> significantly on complex parts
> 6. Ideally, should be solderable
>
>
> There are four broad possibilities I've found:
> 1. Conductive particle suspensions, such as conductive epoxies.
> 2. Conductive thick films
> 3. Conductive ceramics
> 4. Conductive polymers such as polyacetylene
>

1. Wonder if there is some material that once applied to a board could
serve as a catalyst to let copper adhere - think copper/nickel/zinc
plating via a catalyst

2. Check out LPKF site http://www.lpkf.com/products/3d-mid/index.htm,
they seem to have developed a process to create molded interconnects
and maybe there is a similar material that can be applied and
subsequently baked or processed via a laser to activate

3. Maybe look at a wire warp type model where the various layers of
the PCB are simply wire-wrapped with posts to solder components to?
Might not be the most elegant but for prototyping might be a way to
go??
-- 
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist