3D Printing of Multilayered and Multimaterial Electronics: A Review

3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, is a manufacturing process in which the materials are deposited layer by layer in an additive manner. With the advancement in materials and manufacturing technology, 3D printing has found its applications in the field of electronics manufacturing. Initially, 3D printing is used for the fabrication of electronic components with single material designs such as resistors, inductors, circuits, antennas, strain gauges, etc. Recently, there are many works involving the use of 3D printing fabrication techniques for advanced electronic components and devices such as parallel plate capacitors, inductors, organic light-emitting diodes, photovoltaics, transistors, displays, etc. which involve multilayer multimaterial printing. Despite these many works, there has been no review on the design and fabrication consideration for the 3D printing of multilayered and multimaterial (MLMM) electronics. As such, this review aims to summarize the current landscape of 3D printing of MLMM electronics and provide some insights on the design consideration, fabrication strategies, and challenges of 3D printing of MLMM electronics. In particular, the focus will be placed on discussing the interface conditions between different materials such as surface wettability, surface roughness, material compatibility, and the considerations for postprocessing treatments.

Automated summary

3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, has been utilized in electronics manufacturing for the fabrication of various electronic components and devices. There is ongoing research on 3D printing of multilayered and multimaterial electronics, but a comprehensive review on the design and fabrication consideration is yet to be done.