ETH Zurichspin-outScrona AGhas raised $9.6 million towards the development of a novel high-resolution approach to 3D printing electronic devices.
Unlike conventional inkjetting, the firm’s Electrostatic Multi-Nozzle Printing process utilizes a piezoelectric field generated just outside the tip of a printing nozzle, to jet multiple materials onto substrates at a sub-micron level of accuracy, potentially allowing for the creation of PCBs, semiconductors and displays at a 100-times higher resolution than before.
获得了系列的支持AM Ventures，，，，TRUMPF Venture，，，，Verve Venturesand Manz Management Consulting and Investment, Scrona now aims to “accelerate the industrialization” of its technology, as it seeks to bring it to market.
Scrona首席执行官Patrick Galliker博士说：“ Scrona使客户能够在任何材料上，大规模地打印不可能的东西，从而提高制造业的速度，准确性和成本。”“We are very excited to be supported by this syndicate of expert investors who understand the disruptive potential of Scrona‘s scalable printing technology, which has the ability to reduce manufacturing steps ten-fold, while also significantly reducing material, energy and water usage.”
Electrostatic Multi-Nozzle Printing
尽管近年来，电子产品的3D打印已经突飞猛进，但Scrona表示，现有技术在满足对具有较小功能尺寸的多物质设备需求不断增长的情况下仍“面对限制”。在很大程度上，该公司将当前喷墨方法的缺点归咎于其对基于喷嘴的喷射的依赖，这只能使狭窄的液滴的沉积。
To overcome this perceived drawback, Scrona has therefore come up with Electrostatic Multi-Nozzle Printing, a process in which a piezoelectric field is instead used to ‘pull’ inks from a nozzle. In doing so, the technology effectively focuses all jetting energy at the nozzle’s very tip, enabling the ten times faster deposition of smaller droplets, at resolutions as high as 0.5 μm, layer-by-layer into objects.
With further R&D, the company believes it could be possible to condense thousands of these nozzles into MEMS systems, capable of depositing metals, dielectrics, biomaterials and organic inks that existing processes just can’t handle. The programmable nature of the microfabrication technology behind these nozzles, also allows for their full customization, lending them several potential applications.
AM Ventures的执行合伙人Johann Oberhofer表示：“在添加剂制造中，Scrona技术具有巨大的潜力，因为其技术可以处理当今其他打印头根本无法处理的材料。”“最高分辨率和克服当前过程高性能材料限制的能力的结合是独特的。”
“I expect that Scrona’s technology will enable completely new applications and we are glad to accompany them on their journey together with a strong investor line-up.”
斯克罗纳（Scrona）的960万美元资金提升
The majority of Scrona’s newly-raised funding has come from a $6.7 million Series A funding round led by AM Ventures, a company with a track record of helping emerging businesses bring their technologies to market. In the past, the firm has支持现在的行业坚定的染色，，，，and having set up a1亿欧元的风险投资基金last year, it continues to support start-ups across the sector.
同样，其他支持者特朗普·企业（Trump Fenture）也对新兴技术本身也注视着获得了特朗普·西斯玛（Trumpf Sisma），这是一家与Sisma一起建立的合资企业，以磨练激光金属融合过程，而Swiss Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation(or SERI) has also lent its support to Scrona, pledging to provide the remaining $2.9 million in the form of a grant.
Using the capital raised across these investment channels, Scrona anticipates being able to bring its technology to market much more quickly, and test its efficacy within new applications such as the creation of micro-LED displays and AR glasses. Although the firm hasn’t set a timescale for its commercialization, it’s报告to be seeking collaborations with Tier 1 equipment manufacturers by 2024.
Verve Ventures投资团队负责人Michael Blank补充说：“可以通过Scrona的优势技术以工业规模印刷各种材料。”“这是从半导体到生物技术分子印刷的各种行业的量子飞跃。”
Interest in 3D printed electronics surges
With 3D printing beginning to emerge as a viable alternative to traditional electronics production processes, those developing such technologies are also starting to attract the attention of investors. Earlier this month,Q5D技术secured $2.5 million in funding to support the development of its 5-axisCU500 wiring and electronics 3D printer。
Similarly, on the military front,BotFactoryhas gained美国空军funding to develop a fully-automateddesktop electronics 3D printer。Designed to be capable of 3D printing and assembling printed circuit boards (PCBs) on-site and on-demand, it’s thought that once ready, the system could save the US military millions in procurement costs.
As one of the early leaders in the electronic 3D printing sector,Nano Dimensionhas also poured a huge amount of funding into the R&D of related technologies. In one such initiative, the company co-founded the$6 million J.A.M.E.S venture与传感器专家HENSOLDTin June 2021, which has seen the creation of a designer community, working to advance additively manufactured electronics (AMEs).
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Featured image shows a set of integrated circuit boards. Photo via Magnascan, Pixabay.
