Nano Dimension Dragonfly 2020 3D PCB printer

The Dragonfly 2020 3D PCB printer, from Nano Dimension, can produce professional multilayer printed circuit boards (PCBs) and 3D circuitry as a rapid prototyping tool for electronics professionals.

The Dragonfly 2020 system brings together a precise inkjet deposition printer, high-performance silver nanoparticle conductive and dielectric inks and dedicated software in order to bring the benefits of 3D printing to electronics professionals. The hardware, dedicated nano-inks and software are said to offer design flexibility to a wide range of research and development, prototyping and custom manufacturing projects. The product also offers the flexibility to print an entire board or just part of a circuit. For example, users can develop the RF and digital sections of a board in parallel, test and iterate on the fly.

The printer deposits two materials, one conductive and one dielectric, in order to build a complete multilayer PCB from the bottom up. Each pass of the printhead deposits dielectric and conductive material at the exact location specified by the design file. Starting from the underside conductive traces, the materials are built up to finish with the topside conductors. This process means that vias are built up, drop by drop, either as blind, open or complete vias. Plated and non-plated through-holes are created by repeatedly leaving a space at a particular XY coordinate, thereby building surrounding materials up around a void. The dielectric ends up as a solid piece within which the conductive traces are positioned at the precise XYZ coordinates specified.