LPKF and Ticona Sign License Agreement

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November 2003

New material for the 3D-MID process

Garbsen/Kelsterbach, October, 2003 - LPKF Laser & Electronics AG and Ticona GmbH closed a know-how and license agreement in Octo-ber, 2003 for applying laser-structurable Vectra® LCP E 820i LDS high-performance plastic to Laser Direct Structuring (LDS) additives to pro-duce 3D injection-molded circuit carriers. The agreement gives Ticona access to LPKF granulate production technology for manufacturing 3D-MID circuit carriers.

There has long been a desire to deposit conductive paths directly on molded plastic structures, combining electrical and mechanical func-tions into one component to form an injection-molded circuit carrier. With the combination of the LPKF LDS process and the new Vectra® LCP E 820i LDS polymer material, this technology is easily accom-plished. Now the electronics housing substitutes for the conventional circuit board, encouraging miniaturization. This laser-based process is realized with few manufacturing steps.

The structure is molded in a standard mold using the Vectra proprietary plastic, the desired interconnect pattern is directly written on the result-ing molded part utilizing an LPKF laser system, and the conductive paths are plated using industry standard methods. The plating adheres only where the plastic has been activated by the laser. Due to the high temperature resistance, the circuit structures on this LCP material are solderable.

Vectra LCP E820i LDS can be used in single-component injection-molding, which greatly reduces the cost of MID production compared to the two-component injection-molding process. The molded components are structured with LPKF's MicroLine 3D IR industrial laser system and then activated by metallization. Vectra LCP E820i LDS has excellent flow properties and imaging precision. Its lead-free solder reflowing ca-pacity makes it ideal for MIDs mass production, and it is also dimen-sionally stable and non-hydroscopic.

This technological advance is ideal for MID application areas like auto-mobile electronics, medical technology, and telecommunications.


Background information:

Ticona boasts long MID experience
Ticona has extensive MID experience, and it was the use of high-performance poly-mers like Vectra in classic MID technology that opened up the mass production of 3D injection-molded circuit carriers in miniaturized components.

Vectra®  is a registered Ticona trademark.

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