Optimization of Additively Manufactured Interposers for DC and RF Applications in Printed Circuit Boards

Additive manufacturing (AM) for printed electronics (PE), though still in its infancy, has seen major growth in the past few years. AM techniques have several benefits over traditional manufacturing, namely the reduction of waste material and the increased efficiency in producing prototypes. However, there are disadvantages associated with AM, the most prevalent being a low throughput of parts. Limited research has been done to increase the throughput to the scale of traditional manufacturing methods. To combine the benefits of both AM and traditional manufacturing techniques, this paper discusses a hybrid printed circuit board (PCB) assembly that employs an additively manufactured interposer to serve as a DC interconnect between the AM structure and the PCB manufactured with traditional methods.