Researchers from MIT have made significant progress in the realm of 3D-printed electronics, showcasing the successful creation of fully 3D-printed resettable fuses used in active electronics that typically rely on semiconductors. The innovation leverages the electrical phenomenon noted in a biodegradable polymer doped with copper nanoparticles, which could usher in a new era of electronics manufacturing accessible outside specialized facilities. This breakthrough comes amid a historical global electronics shortage heightened by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has underscored the critical need for more accessible fabrication methods.
With the semiconductor industry being central to the modern digital infrastructure, the work by the MIT team points towards mitigating the bottleneck caused by the concentration of semiconductor fabrication in limited global locations. During the pandemic, it became evident how much consumers and various sectors, ranging from the economy to national defense, rely on this technology. As MIT News reports, the endeavor could one day democratize the production of active electronic devices significantly.
The devices developed offer similar functionalities to traditional semiconductor-based transistors but are crafted using a standard 3D printer and the aforementioned copper-doped polymer. While not yet matching the performance level of their silicon counterparts, these 3D-printed devices can handle basic control operations, such as managing the rotational speed of an electric motor. "This technology has real legs. While we cannot compete with silicon as a semiconductor, our idea is not to necessarily replace what is existing, but to push 3D printing technology into uncharted territory," Luis Fernando Velásquez-García, a principal research scientist in MIT’s Microsystems Technology Laboratories and senior author of the study, told MIT News.
The genesis of the project was serendipitous, arising from a different research initiative involving the fabrication of magnetic coils. The team realized that the polymer they were using exhibited a dramatic change in resistance when subject to a high current, a property akin to that of semiconductors used in transistors. After rigorous testing, no other 3D printing material replicated the effect seen in the copper-doped polymer, hinting at its unique suitability for the task. "For now, that is our best explanation, but that is not the full answer because that doesn’t explain why it only happened in this combination of materials. We need to do more research, but there is no doubt that this phenomenon is real," Velásquez-García said in a statement obtained by MIT News.
Despite the current limitations in scaling down the size of these printed devices to the minuscule dimensions of advanced semiconductor transistors, the MIT team's work paves the way for integrating electronics into 3D-printed structures on demand. Roger Howe, a professor at Stanford University not associated with the study, highlighted the potential of the technology to impact fields such as aerospace, where on-board spacecraft could benefit from on-site mechatronics printing. The research project was partly funded by Empiriko Corporation and is poised for further exploration aiming at printing more complex circuits and enhancing device performance.
